/ 



r :< \ 







7 f 



is 




%J ,jLj I 



B 74 1 

.L2 1 

r 

i 



-v ?p— | 



\ / 



W 




Class 37^ 

Book ^ ^ 

GopyiiglitlSl? 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



ABC 
of Philosophy 

BY 

GRACE F. LANDSBERG 



5 




R. F. FENNO & COMPANY 
NEW YORK 






Copyright, 1909, by 
R. F. Fenno & Company 



[LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
I Twc Oooips ^.wlverJ 

Milium 

Copyngnt entry 



To my dear friend 
FRAULEIN ANNA GOETZE 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/abcofphilosophyOOIand 



CONTENTS 

BOOK I. 

Part I. 

Chap. I. Introductory Notes on Philoso- 
phy in General. 
Pre-Socratic Era. 

Chap. II. Physiologists: 

Thales 640-550 B. C. 
Anaximander about 611-547 B. C. 
Anaximenes about 560-502 B. C. 

Chap. III. Pythagoreans and Eleatics: 
Pythagoras 569-470 B. C. 
Xenophanes 570-466 B. C. 
Parmenedes 518 B. C. 

Chap. IY. Gosmologists : 

Heraclitus about 535-475 B. C. 
Anaxagoras about 499-427 B. C. 



ii Contents. 

Chap. V. Atomists: 

Leucippus about 500-400 B. C. 

Democritus about 460-370 B. C. 
Chap. VI. Sophists: 

Protagoras 

Gorgias 

Prodicus 
Chap. VII. Socrates 469-399 B. C. 
Chap. VIII. Megaries: 

Euclid of Megara 
Gyrenaics : 

Aristippus of Cyrene 
Cynics : 

Antisthenes 438-366 B. C. 

Diogenes 323 B. C. 
Chap. IX. Plato 427-348 B. C. 
Chap. X. Aristotle of Stagira 385-322 B. C. 

Part II. 

Philosophy following the era of Aristotle. 
Chap. XI. Stoics: 

Zeno about 300 B. C. 
Panetius 180-112 B. C. 
Posidamius 



Contents. iii 

Seneca about 1 A. D. — 65 A. D. 

Epictetus 

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus 121- 
180 A. D. 
Chap. XII. Epicureans: 

Epicurus 342-275 B. C. 

Lucretius 90-55 B. C. 
Chap. XIII. Sceptics: 

Pyrrho of Elis 360-270 B. C. 

Timon of Phlius 230 B. C. 

Sextus Empiricus about 200 A. D. 
Chap. XIV. Mystics: 

Philo of Alexandria 30 B. C. -50 
A. D. 

Part. III. 

Chap. XV. Neo-Platonism. 
Saccas 355 A. D. 
Plotinus 205-270 A. D. 
Proclos 412-485 A. D. 

Part IV. 
Christian Philosophy. 
Chap. XVI. Gnostics: 

Basilides 100-150 A. D. 



iv Contents. 

Clement about 150-211 A. D. 
Origines 185-254 A. D. 
Chap. XVII. Scholastics: 

Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury 

1033-1109 A. D. 
Abelard 1079-1143 A. D. 
Petrus Loinbardus 1160 A. D. 
Albertus Magnus 1193-1280 A. D. 
Thomas Aquinas 1225-1325 A. D. 

BOOK II. 

Transition Period. 

Chap. I. Renaissance: 

Giordano Bruno 1550-1600 A. D. 
Michel de Montaigne 1533-1652 
Jacob Behmen 1575-1624 

Chap. II. Modern Era in Philosophy : 
Lord Bacon 1561-1626 
Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679 

Chap. III. Rationalism: 

Rene Descartes 1596-1650 
Nicolas Malebranche 1638-1715 

Chap. IV. Continuation of the Cartesian 
School: 
Spinoza 1632-1677 



Contents. v 

Chap. V. Philosophy in England: 
John Locke 1632-1714 
Sir Isaac Newton 1643-1727 
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl 

of Shaftesbury, 1671-1713 
David Hume 1711-1776 

Chap. VI. Philosophy in France : 

Baron de la Brede et de Montes- 
quieu 1639-1755 
Jean Francois Arouet de Voltaire 

1694-1778 
Jean Jacques Rousseau 1712-1778 
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac 1715- 

1780 
Claude Adrien Helvetius 1715-1771 
Paul Heinrich Dietrich, Baron von 
Holbach, 1723-1789 

Chap. VII. Philosophy in Germany: 
Leibnitz 1646-1716 
Christian von Wolff 1679-1754 
Moses Mendelssohn 1729-1786 
Johann Gottfried Herder 1744-1803 

Chap. VIII. Immanuel Kant 172J r 1804 



vi Contents. 

Chap. IX. Controversy on the Teachings 
of Kant: 
Heinrich Friedrich Jacobi 1743- 

1819 
Johann Georg Hamann 1730-1788 
Chap. X. Johann Gottlieb Fichte 1762- 

1814 
Chap. XI. Joseph von Schelling 1775-1854 
Georg Wm. Fried. Hegel 1770-1831 
Friedrich Schleiermacher 1768- 

1834 
Johann Friedrich Herbart 1776- 

1841 
Gustav Theodor Fechner 1801-1887 
Chap. XII. French Philosophers of the 
XlXth Century: 
Auguste Comte 1798-1857 
Pierre Proudhon 1809-1865 
Chap. XIII. English Philosophers of the 
XlXth Century: 
Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832 
John Stuart Mill 1806-1873 
Herbert Spencer 1820-1904 
Chap. XIV. German Philosophers of the 
XTXth Century: 



Contents. vii 

Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860 
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche 1844- 

1900 
Carl Robert Eduard v. Hartmann 

1842-1906. 

APPENDIX 

Evolutionists. 
Chas. Robert Darwin 1809-1882 
Ernst Heinrich Haeckel 1834 
Thos. Henry Huxley 1825-1895 



BOOK I. 



PREFACE. 

About three years ago, when I was read- 
ing or rather working through Goethe's 
Faust (it took me over six months), with 
my dear friend and teacher Fraulein A. 
Goetze, I found that I could not appreciate 
and understand half of what I read, owing 
to the fact that I knew nothing at all of 
Philosophy — I am mistaken when I say 
"nothing at all." I wish it had been so! 
— No, I had the usual erroneous ideas of a 
girl of sixteen educated under the modern 
system. Philosophy to me, meant Fatalism, 
and Atheism, — a wicked science certainly, 
and one likely to put its devotees into a 
most interesting frame of mind! Such a 
state of affairs could not last, however, as I 
was taking my literature very much "au 
serieux." I hunted accordingly for a book 
which would give me in a simple, clear, and 
concise manner, the elementary theories of 
Philosophy, but in vain, — the books I 
bought were not only miles beyond my com- 
prehension, but the language used was so 
confusing that I as really worse off than 
before. Here again my dear Goetze came 



x Preface. 

to my aid in giving me a few clear ideas 
on this subject, and it was these notes and 
hints that I took as the fundamental basis 
of my book when, three months ago, I de- 
cided to write it. 

So much for the origin ! Now for my pur- 
pose ! I have written this book not for schol- 
ars ( I could not presume that far, not being 
one myself) but for those who in some cases 
would be glad to, and in all cases should, 
have some notions on so important a sub- 
ject as Philosophy. This is nothing more 
than a school book, a primer, or the A. B. C. 
of Philosophy. 

I have tried in the "Introductory Notes" 
to make all the different divisions and sub 
divisions, as clear as possible; and I think 
that the table will make the relative posi- 
tions of the theories involved in them even 
more lucid. I have tried also to explain the 
differences and theories of the ancient and 
modern schools of Philosophy, and have 
named the individual philosophers and their 
principal teachings. This brings me to my 
second purpose, namely: a book of refer- 
ence, limited, I grant, as I have not given 



Preface. xi 

all the philosophers but only the more im- 
portant ones, my prime object being to 
write a book for beginners. 

I do not claim to have accomplished my 
task as well as it might have been done by 
someone more fitted for this kind of work, 
but I have not for a moment forgotten either 
the trouble I had when I first ventured to 
peep into Philosophy, nor my purpose of 
saving others of my own age the same per- 
plexities. As I think I have attained my 
aim in that respect at least, I hope that my 
little book may fulfil its object. 



A B C of Philosophy 



CHAPTER I. 

Introductory Notes. 

The word "Philosophy" is of Greek deri- 
vation and originally denoted general theo- 
retical knowledge in contrast to practical 
knowledge. 

Philosophy is that general knowledge 
which tries to unite into one system all the 
results of the various sciences, and to raise 
the manifoldness of conception into a sin- 
gle idea, and the many ideas into a highest 
idea. 

Philosophy explains away the reason of 
contradictions in science, and endeavors to 
remove them. 

Philosophy consists of the same subjects 
as the other sciences, but the standpoint 
21 



22 A B C of Philosophy. 

from which it contemplates these subjects 
is different, the aim being to unite the var- 
ious sciences into one. 

From this last fact result three principal 
problems : 

I. The problem of "Metaphysics" 

II. The problem of the "Theory of Un- 
derstanding." 

III. The problem of "Ethics." 

I. Metaphysics is the science which 
treats of Universal Principles. It treats of 
the Conception of Being, Becoming, Possi- 
bility, Keality and Necessity. 

In their historical development these con- 
ceptions have necessarily overlapped one an- 
other; hence the metaphysical problem di- 
vides itself into : 

(a) The Ontological Problem. 

(b) The Cosmological or Theological 
Problem. 

(a) The Ontological Problem can be ex- 
pressed by the question: Wherein lies the 
nature of Eeality? 

There are as many metaphysical systems 



A B G of Philosophy. 23 

as there are different answers to this ques- 
tion, the most important of them being: 

Dualism, Monism, Materialism, Spirit- 
ualism or Idealism. 

Dualism is that conception which takes 
for granted two kinds of substances, bodily 
and mental, extended and thinking. 

Monism insists upon deriving Keality 
from One principle only, and of tracing the 
manifold forms of being back to a single 
primitive form. This result can be arrived 
at in two ways : Either the spiritual event 
reverts to the bodily (the occurrences in 
the consciousness are only the appearances 
of physical occurrences, and we arrive at 
materialism), or, the physical occurrence 
reverts to a mental event. The physical 
world (the five senses) is only a form of the 
mental occurrence. Consequently we ar- 
rive at Spiritualism or Idealism. 

(b) The Cosmological or Theological 
Problem can be expressed by the question: 
What conception are we to have of the 
Universe and of its cause? 

From the answers we have three princi- 



24 ABC of Philosophy. 

pal theories: Atomism, Theism, Panthe- 
ism. 

Atomism assumes that Keality is a chain 
of eternal uncreated atoms through whose 
mutual activity the world was evolved. 
From these manifold atoms, the many dif- 
ferent forms of existence can be explained. 

Theism declares that the world owes its 
existence to the definite plans of a creat- 
ing God. 

Pantheism identifies God and Nature in 
opposition to Theism, which postulates an 
Eternal Cause anterior to Nature which is 
produced from nothingness. 

II. By "Theory of Understanding" we 
learn, in a wider sense, the genesis of ideas. 

They belong to the most difficult under- 
takings of Philosophy. Their existence is 
abstract, which necessitates a remarkable 
ability in working with conceptions; and as 
these are quite dependent on the progress 
of the individual sciences, a general knowl- 
edge of each science is required. 

To the question, as to the Nature of the 
Conception, the answer is given: 



A B C of Philosophy. 25 

1st. By Realism : Understanding is the 
exact reproduction of Reality. We see 
things as they really are, and as they ap- 
pear to be. 

2nd. By Idealism, which asserts that to 
imagine and to be are totally different. 
Idealism springs from overrating the un- 
derstanding which is given by Conscious- 
ness. 

To the question, as to the origin of 
Knowledge, Sensualism* or Empiricism 
gives the following answer : 

All knowledge originates from internal 
or external perceptions; every effect that 
is beyond the scope of the senses should be 
rejected. 

There are only bodily forces, effects, and 
substances. The faculty of Understanding 
in mankind is only a function of a bodily 
organ. Rationalism affirms that all un- 
understanding originates from the Reason. 

Empiricism endeavors to grasp all 
truths, through the "re-formation" of each 
perception of the senses. We distinguish: 

*Sensualism is in Metaphysics that theory which bases 
all our mental acts and intellectual powers upon sensa- 
tion, — sensationalism as opposed to intellectualism. 



26 AB G of Philosophy. 

1. Realistic Empiricism: We know 
things to be what they are by perception. 

2. Idealistic Empiricism: We know 
things to be what they are by perception, 
but we do not conceive a perfectly clear 

picture corresponding to the real object. 

3. Realistic Rationalism: We know 
things to be what they are, but only through 
Reason. 

4. Idealistic Rationalism: We see the 
world, the reality, through pure Reason, not 
as it really is but as we imagine it to be. 
The real substance of things cannot be un- 
derstood. 

III. Ethics. 

Besides Metaphysics and the Theory of 
Understanding, philosophy also treats of 
the Ethical problem. The first two ques- 
tions are the foundation of the Ethical 
problem. They ask : What is good, and what 
is evil? 

The answers which are given by Moral 
Philosophy can be divided into two prin- 
cipal groups, of which each has subdi- 



AB G of Philosophy. 27 

visions but which all agree on the main 
point. 

The first principal group consists of the 
moral philosophers, who teach an instinct- 
ive morality and who anticipate in man an 
inborn, immediate, moral consciousness. 

To the second group belong those moral 
philosophers who deny this inborn con- 
science and who derive the conception of 
good and evil from the consequences which 
the circumstances bring forth. According 
to the first group we are virtuous because 
an inner conscience guides us; according 
to the second, virtue is the product of his- 
torical evolution, and we only acknowledge 
virtue because our well-being and that of 
our fellow creatures depend upon it. 





a 




. oq 
















.2 




"+£ 


.2 


(1 






'B 


•> 


a 


M 


IS 


00 


+3 




00 


[3 


fH 




S 


J-H 


T3 


ft 


a 
P 


a 


o 


.. 


h 


s 




OJ 


S 


*^ 


(U 


o3 


~ 


0) 


Eh 






s 




.2 




"5 




05 




£ 



-a i i 



"ft 

s 


_C3 
ft 

a 


03 

.2 

03 


p 

.2 

+3 


c 


. a 


a 


• C 



eg 2 ^ -c 




a a 

03 fc, « 



ft l-H 



A B C of Philosophy. 29 



PRE-SOCRATW ERA. 

CHAPTER II. 

PHYSIOLOGISTS. 

Thales, 640-550 B. 0., of Miletus, is the 
father of Philosophy. It was he who first 
set aside the myths as to the creation of the 
Universe and laid the way for scientific 
procedure. He was celebrated for his as- 
tronomical and mathematical knowledge, 
as well as his political shrewdness and 
worldly wisdom. 

A contemporary was Anaximander (abt. 
611-547 B. C. ) , the inventor of the sun-dial. 
He believed in one substance, from which 
everything originated and then returned to 
the Infinite; the evolution of the world be- 
gan with the separation of heat and cold. 
From heat and cold resulted moisture, and 



30 A B G of Philosophy. 

from moisture earth. From moisture 
springs all life. His pupil — 

Anaximenes (abt. 560-502 B. C), en- 
larged upon his teachings. He thought the 
creation came through the dissolution and 
the condensation of air. Clouds, water, 
earth, stone are condensed air; fire is di- 
luted air. 

These three Ionic Philosophers are also 
called Hylicists because they claim matter 
as the fundamental element. 



ABCof Philosophy. 31 



CHAPTER III. 
PYTHAGOREANS AND ELEATICS. 

Pythagoras (569-470 B. C.) was born in 
Sannos. When fifty ~years old he went to 
Southern Italy. Before that time he had 
been in Egypt. In Italy he founded a mys- 
tical religious society for moral purposes. 
He had great political influence and excit- 
ed violent animosity, to which he succumbed 
six years later. 

His theory: 

Neither water nor air is the prime mat- 
ter of Nature, but arithmetical propor- 
tion; the primitive element is One. This 
comprises everything, as it cannot be di- 
vided. There are even and uneven num- 
bers; the even ones are limited numbers 
because they can be divided; the uneven 
ones are unlimited, To the uneven nurn- 



32 A B C of Philosophy. 

bers belong "evil," to the limited "good." 
Evil has no hold ; good is orderly. 

Through this teaching the Pythagoreans 
hoped to bring harmony into the universe. 
Through these mathematical proportions 
the conformity of the manifoldness is sup- 
posed to have arisen. 

The world is a gradation of harmonic- 
ally ordered numbers. The Pythagoreans 
believed furthermore in ten spheres 
(worlds) which revolved around a central 
fire. From this central fire streams the 
force that maintains the Universe. Sun, 
moon, and stars move with stupendous ve- 
locity, making an enormous sound.* We 
cannot hear this music,* as we have not 
been accustomed to it from our birth. 

The Pythagoreans held that number was 
of the greatest importance in the explana- 
tion of the world's mechanism, but they 
went too far in saying that number was the 

*Groethe defines Pythagoras' s Theory in the Prolog in 
Heaven of the first part of Faust, as follows: 
Die Sonne tont nach alter Weise, 
In Bniderspharen Weltgesang, 
Und ihre Vorgeschriebene Reise 
Vollendet sie mit Donnergang, 



ABCof Philosophy. 33 

Inner being of things. Numbers have often 
led to mystical interpretations. 

The Eleatic School of Philosophy was 
founded by Xenophanes (570-466) about 
540 B. C. 

The gist of its teaching is that the Exis- 
tence of things in themselves cannot be 
contemplated through the medium of our 
senses, but only by our powers of reflection 
and thought. "Sense gives only false ap- 
pearances of non-being." In opposition to 
the manifold and ever-changing perception 
which our senses give us of the outside 
world, the Eleatics put forth the doctrine, 
"the One is God, self-existent, eternal and 
unchangeable." Consequently Xenophanes 
is the first Monotheist, as well as the first 
Sceptic. 

Parmenides (about 518) is the most not- 
able of the Eleatic philosophers. Having at 
first attached himself to the Pythagoreans, 
he derived the physical part of his system 
from them; but it is to Xenophanes that 
Parmenides was indebted for the theory of 
the One and the Many. 



34 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER IV. 
COSMOLOGISTS. 

Heraclitus (the obscure) (about 535-475 
B. C. ) the founder of this school, taught as 
follows : 

The world was not created either by the 
gods or by man. It has always existed 
and will always exist, like an eternal fire. 
From the fire evolved, through a cooling 
process, water; from water, earth; through 
reburning the earth becomes once more 
water, and this in its turn once again fire; 
there is an everlasting change. When fire 
transforms itself into water, a,nd water into 
earth, condensation takes place; in the con- 
trary process, dissolution. 

Both transformations go hand in hand, 
one always supplementing the other. The 
primitive fire is "Zeus." The souls of man- 
kind and of animals emanate from him. 



AB G of Philosophy. 35 

In no part of the universe is there im- 
mutability; everything changes. To Be 
means to change; from this there develops 
the manifoldness of appearances. In the 
world — everlasting change — there exists 
perfect harmony, everything being ordained 
according to our wants by the orders and 
laws of the highest Wisdom. From this 
Heraclitus derives an ethical religious spec- 
ulation, and declares that man can only be 
happy and contented when he subjects him- 
self to necessity. 

Anaooagoras (about 499-427 B. 0.) was a 
pupil of Heraclitus. Only fragments of his 
writings on nature are still in existence. 

He takes innumerable kinds of matter 
for granted. The motive power is Wisdom, 
which holds everything in its hands and 
governs perfectly the past, the present, and 
the future. 

This Wisdom is in all plants, animals, 
and mankind, and acts as the living Soul. 



36 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER V. 
ATOMISTS. 

Leucippus (about 500-400 B. C.) is the 
founder of this school. He teaches that all 
bodies consist of innumerable invisible and 
indivisible atoms, which, by their size and 
the way in which they are combined, form 
the substance of bodies. 

Democritus (about 460-370 B. C), his dis- 
ciple, teaches that the qualities of bodies 
are simply semblances. Nothing is in itself 
bitter, sweet, cold, or warm. It only ap- 
pears so, through the disposition called 
ties that are necessary to fill up space, viz. : 
size, appearance, place, and movement. All 
bodies consist of simple indivisible atoms, 
which are too small to be visible, and which 
can be distinguished only by their size, po- 
sition, etc. 



A B C of Philosophy. 37 

These atoms fill the cosmos, motion being 
the result of the weight of matter. The 
mass of atoms has a downward movement, 
the larger atoms being heavier than the 
smaller ones. They consequently move 
faster, and through collision bodies were 
formed. Fire also consists of atoms; they 
are to be found in all organic bodies, being 
specially numerous in the human soul. 
Death is caused by the escape of a large 
quantity of these atoms. Atoms also con- 
tain feeling, desire, thought, longing, and 
pain, the workings of the soul. Perception 
is caused by the outflow of atoms penetrat- 
ing the sight and there encountering sim- 
ilar atoms. 

Many of the theories of Democritus re- 
late to worldly wisdom. 

It is better for humanity that life should 
offer to the individual more pleasure than 
sorrow, and he who desires that this should 
be so, must have less care for the body than 
for the soul. Man can only find real hap- 
piness within himself. It does not consist 
of pleasures of sense, but in the content- 
ment and peace of the heart and of the soul. 



38 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER1VI. 
THE SOPHISTS. 

Sophist was the name given to a group 
of men who lived in the Fifth Century 
B. C. and who, paid by the State, taught 
argumentation and oratory. They did not 
aim at a deep and thorough knowledge, but 
only at that superficial science and expert- 
ness which would bring them influence and 
riches. Their characteristic gifts were elo- 
quence and other qualities which are ne- 
cessary to play a part in public life. The 
three most important Sophists were: 

Protagoras, Gorgias, Prodicus. 

Their most important teaching is: that 
the qualities perceived in objects are not 
really their own, but only come to them 
through their relation to ourselves. 

There can be no "self," the only existence 
being on the part of a perceiving Subject. 



A B C of Philosophy. 39 

If an object appears to be one thing to one 
person and something different to another, 
that object is what it appears to be to each. 
The measure for all things is man. They 
transferred this view into the moral sphere, 
and so shifted the idea of good and evil, or 
in reality uprooted it. 

Prodicus gave lectures on the choice of 
conduct in life, on the worth and proper 
disposition of wealth, on life and death. 

The later Sophists were free-thinkers 
who undermined law and morals by raising 
the right of power to a law of nature, and 
by recommending an inconsiderate satisfy- 
ing of every desire. Their strength was not 
positive knowledge, nor did their theories 
lead to any successful conclusions. It only 
consisted in the art of being able to speak 
well and fluently on a subject in which 
they were not well versed. 



40 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER VII. 
SOCRATES, 469-399 B. C. 

Socrates differed from the Sophists in- 
asmuch as he taught without being paid, in 
casual meetings with his pupils, putting 
questions, answering and unfolding them, 
and testing the results together with his 
pupils. 

He wrote nothing down himself, and we 
know of him mainly through the writings 
of Xenophon and Plato. 

His philosophy is purely ethical, the ac- 
tions of man are determined by good or 
evil; it is only necessary to find the test 
stone of Truth. He started from the in- 
ductive method, i. e., he began by affirm- 
ing certain facts about a certain species, 
proceeding then, through contemplation, to 
a statement relating to the whole species. 



A B C of Philosophy. 41 

In Socrates are to be seen the first begin- 
nings of Logic, for he made use of defini- 
tions and proceeded by Induction. He saw 
in it the only way of arriving at virtue. 
Virtue is a science; anyone can be virtuous 
if he is taught to be so. There is but one 
Truth, consequently only one Virtue. 

The task of "Ethics" is to demonstrate 
that Virtue which in itself contains all 
other virtues. Virtue is identical with the 
useful and the pleasant. Moral laws are 
of divine origin. One God, besides whom 
none other exists, is the originator of these 
laws. God is an invisible Spirit only to be 
recognized through his works. 

Socrates did not pray for specified 
things, but for good in general. He was the 
first philosopher who paid for his opinions 
with his life. Four schools trace their 
origin back to Socrates; namely, the Me- 
garian, the Cyrenaic, the Cynic, and the 
Platonic. 



42 A B G of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE MEGARIES. 

Euclid of Megara was one of the most 
enthusiastic of Socrates' disciples. After 
the death of his master he retired to Me- 
gara, where he founded the Megariam 
School. 

Euclid tried to combine the Eleatic con- 
ception of the One and all and the Socratic 
conception of Good by defining them to be 
the same thing. Thus proving that that 
which is not "Good" is non-existent. 

THE CYRENAICS. 

Aristippus, another of Socrates' disci* 
pies, was the founder of this school. Aris- 
tippus taught that the highest aim in life 
is happiness (not hemmed in by convention- 



AB G of Philosophy. 43 

alities). Happiness — i. e., pleasure — is en- 
nobled and idealized enjoyment. To prove 
this theory it is necessary to ask "how in- 
tense a certain pleasure is, and what influ- 
ence will it have with regard to the future." 
Culture and moderation are also necessary 
to intensify pleasure. 

CYNICS. 

Antisthenes (438-366 B. C.), the founder 
of the school of Cynics (the Greek Capucin 
monks), believed that he understood Socra- 
tes most thoroughly. 

"Poverty, riches, honor, infamy, life and 
death, are perfectly indifferent to the wise. 
Virtue, which consists entirely in renuncia- 
tion and self-control, suffices for absolute 
contentment." 

The best known among the cynics is 
Diogenes (died 323 B. C). His self-denial 
and indifference imposed on the crowd; he 
did not lay any stress upon knowledge and 
research. 

The Cynics believed that the shortest 
road to Wisdom lay in trying to suppress 



44 A B C of Philosophy. 

all pleasure; they eventually even went 
against the old religious conceptions and 
regulations, such, for instance, as marriage, 
as being originally in contradiction with 
Nature. 



A B C of Philosophy. 45 



CHAPTER IX. 

PLATO (the broad-shouldered one), 
427-348 B. C. 

Plato's writings have all been preserved. 
They are all written in dialogues, as he al- 
ways used this form in teaching. In form 
and style they are worthy of the highest 
admiration. 

In them he continued the teachings of 
his master, Socrates. Ideas are the prin- 
ciples of knowledge, the rules being our 
conceptions. 

Conceptions alone are existing and last- 
ing, while the world is material and chang- 
ing. Knowledge begins with the idea that 
many single things which are alike can be 
put together, and from these there can be 
deduced a general result common to them 



46 ABGof Philosophy. 

all. In this way an idea is born ; this idea 
is eternally unalterable, even if the cor- 
responding objects are variable. Above all 
things, ideas existed in our Souls before 
our birth; conceptions are "a priore" i. e. } 
born with us; not taken from our senses, 
but created by reason. The material per- 
ceptions only affect the appearance of con- 
ceptions which have lain dormant in our 
reason. Ideas are the prototype of things, 
and these again only the portrait of the 
ideas, because the Creator (Demiourgos) 
enforced his idea upon the raw matter. 
The highest conception is the idea of good, 
and this is God himself personified. 

As regards this idea Plato did not go any 
deeper. 

The world has to thank its existence to 
the Goodness of God. It contains some- 
thing which does not come either from God 
or from ideas, and this is the unlimited and 
indeterminable in it. 

The unlimited is the foundation of the 
world, therefore the world is not perfect 
and evil is ineradicable. Everything in 
the world is practically ordained and ruled 



A B G of Philosophy. 47 

by a reasonable principle which Plato calls 
"the sonl of the World." 

Everything happens for certain purposes 
which we cannot always understand. Plato 
supposes the pre-existence of a soul which 
dwelt in heaven in immediate contact with 
ideas before birth. Therefore all knowledge 
is a "reminiscence" of that which has al- 
ready been contemplated. 

In ethics Plato agrees with Socrates that 
reasonable Will is. Virtue ; an irrational life 
is immoral. All inclinations and actions in 
life are decided by judgment; all bad ac- 
tions are mistakes. No one commits evil of 
his own free will, and virtue accompanies 
knowledge and goodness. Virtue is ego- 
tism; we must conform to it for its own 
sake. There is but one Virtue which is 
divided into four cardinal virtues: Wis- 
dom, courage, moderation, and justice. Only 
those who, aiming for Morality, try to find 
the greatest virtue, are the true philoso- 
phers, the kingly "natures, to whom the rul- 
ing of souls should belong." After death, 
their souls go to a place of recompense, 
while the wicked souls go to a place of 



48 ABC of Philosophy. 

punishment, there to remain a thousand 
years and afterwards to select a mew exist- 
ence. They must wander through the bod- 
ies of plants and animals for the thousand 
years, to do penance for the wickedness com- 
mitted. 

A moral life can only be taught by the 
State. A man becomes greater in the State, 
as it really is the individual many times en- 
larged. The aim of the State is to secure 
the maximum of contentment and virtue 
in its subjects, as well as their education; 
in their common activity there must reign 
harmony and order. In the State every in- 
dividual must sacrifice himself for the gen- 
eral good. Personal interests must give way. 
Private riches, family, up-bringing, and 
career must be sacrificed to the State if 
necessary. 

Only philosophers or those taught by phil- 
osophers should be at the head of the State. 
Plato laid great stress on the culture of the 
sciences, and his political teachings have 
given rise to many "utopias," even to the 
present day. His philosophy is purely es- 
thetic, his ideals being parallel to the ideals 



A B of Philosophy. 49 

of the Greek artists, for whom the ideas of 
beauty and of goodness are nearly related. 

Platonism consists in thinking that the 
true existence of things is analogous to our 
highest ideals. 

Plato founded an Academy which con- 
tinued to exist long after his death. This 
was the cause of the founding of many 
others. 

We divide them into : "the old/ 7 "the mid- 
dle" and the "new academies/ 7 according 
to their different teachings. Scepticism be- 
came the teaching of the New School. 



50 A B G of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER X. 

ARISTOTLE OF STAGIRA, 385-322 B. G. 

Aristotle's father was medical adviser to 
King Anigutas of Macedonia. At the age 
of seventeen he became a pupil of Plato, and 
studied under him for twenty years. In 342 
B. C. he became the tutor of Alexander, 
afterwards the Great, who was fourteen 
years old at the time. In 335 B. C. he came 
to Athens and lectured on Philosphy in the 
Lyceum. He died at Chalcis in Euboea 
leaving about a thousand MSS. 

Those published by himself have been 
lost, with the exception of a few fragments. 
His greatest merit in Philosophy is that 
he was the true founder of logical science. 
He gave us the material for logic, and to 
the present day hardly anything has been 
added to it. 



A B G of Philosophy. 51 

His teaching : There are ten different ex- 
pressions for the Existing, which are di- 
vided into the following parts: 

1. Substance, example, man, horse. 

2. Quantity, example, measure, weight. 

3. Quality, example, black, soft. 

4. Eelation, example, half, larger. 

5. Place, example, in the town. 

6. Time, example, yesterday, to-morrow. 

7. Position, example, standing, bending. 

8. Condition, example, well, poor 

9. Action, example, running, dancing. 
10. Suffering, example, pain, joy. 

These are the ten categories which denote 
neither Truth nor Error; they only acquire 
a real or an erroneous significance when 
the subject is united with the predicate, 
viz. : in pronouncing judgment upon things. 
The most important category is the sub- 
stance, as without it the others cannot exist. 
Deducing one opinion from many others we 
arrive at a conclusion, which according to 
the certainty of the deduction becomes 
apodictical, dialectical, or rhetorical. A 
false conclusion Aristotle calls sophism or 
fallacy. 



52 A B C of Philosophy. 

In his theological writing Aristotle turns 
against Plato's theory with scathing criti- 
cism. According to Aristotle, Plato gave 
no explicit reason for Existence. Whea he 
calls Ideas the origin of things and only 
admits that objects form part of the ideas, 
he falls into empty poetical expression. 
Aristotle distinguishes in matter Substance 
and Form through which Substance be- 
comes a peculiar example of its class. He 
adds to these conceptions, purpose, aim, and 
reason. 

Substance contains possibilities for every- 
thing. 

Form makes the Substance real. 

Matter endeavors to appear through the 
Form. 

He explains the imperfection of the world 
by the struggle of matter not to become a 
perfect Form. 

About God, Aristotle often contradicts 
himself. As the Propeller of the world God 
exists, and he is the Best Substance pos- 
sible. His activity consists of: 

Purpose. His mind is Pure thought, as He 
has Himself as object. Aristotle's concep- 



A B C of Philosophy. 53 

tion of Heaven is a Special Matter and 
Movement (to which the Botary motion be- 
longs exclusively). 

This motion is the simplest and the most 
perfect, as it always returns to the same 
starting-point. 

The World (Universe) is round; the fixed 
stars are attached to a sphere and are of 
themselves incapable of motion, but are 
carried on by the other forces. 

In the centre is the Earth, immovable. 
The Earth's centre Is composed of hot mol- 
ten matter. The outcome of the everlasting 
change with earthly elements may be said 
to consist in comets, winds, earthquakes, 
and minerals. 

From the elements animal forms are de- 
rived — flesh and bone. Everywhere there 
exists Relative purpose. The Purpose rules 
the whole of organic Nature; e. g. : Every 
organ of the body is made to fulfil a certain 
function. 

The Soul is the complex form of an or- 
ganic body; it is the formal reason of the 
living body, as it is Life, and through life 
the body exists. There are five grades of 



54 A B G of Philosophy. 

souls (the soul as a life-giver) : Nourish- 
ment, movement, propagation, striving, feel- 
ing and thinking. 

Compared with Plato, Aristotle gives to 
Ethics a much lower place. Good consists 
of perfect happiness, and this again exists 
for every individual in living the life which 
pleases himself. The unhindered and per- 
fect activity of a man's powers is the great- 
est good. 

The Best in man is that perfect achieve- 
ment of the work which is given him as a 
reasonable individual ; to him alone belongs 
the activity of reason (or mind). 

Everyone is predisposed to Virtue. Real 
moral actions are the right things to do. 
Courage is the true medium between cowar- 
dice and recklessness. 

Justice is the most perfect virtue, because 
the individual must forget Self and con- 
sider others. To Aristotle knowledge and 
understanding are higher than the eternal 
virtues because they contain Truth, the 
greatest of all virtues; and since the great- 
est happiness lies in purely mental activity, 
the activity of God consists in Pure 



A B G of Philosophy. 55 

Thought. The measure of human virtue is 
the State. The foundation is the Family. 
All governments are good when they aim 
at the general good ; all those are bad which 
keep in view only the interests of the rulers. 

Good Governments are a Monarchy, or an 
Aristocracy; bad Governments are a Tyr- 
anny or a Democracy. 

Education is the duty of the State and 
must be alike for its subjects. 

What Aristotle did for all branches of 
Philosophy stands unique in the history of 
science. He not only touched upon every 
subject, but also matured and completed 
every one of the branches which he under- 
took. His ideas are gigantic; in every 
branch of science there is perfect equality. 

His philosophy was renowned, but found 
few disciples and little appreciation. In all 
his mental workings he tries to make use of 
all the experience which he acquired during 
his life. He has been called the greatest 
"Polyhistor" of ancient times, because no 
one has ever been able to go so deeply into 
all branches of science. 



56 ABC of Philosophy. 



PART II. 

CHAPTER XI. 
PHILOSOPHY AFTER ARISTOTLE. 
STOICS. 

Zeno (died about 264 B. C.) founded a 
school in the Stoa (the "Painted Porch" in 
the Agora at Athens). He was a pupil of 
the cynic Crates and taught for about fifty 
years, dying by starving himself to death. 

Of the later stoics the most important 
are Panetius, Posidamius, Seneca (the 
tutor of Nero), Epictetus (a slave of Nero) 
who was freed and taught Philosophy, and 
lastly the Emperor Marcus Aurelius An- 
toninus. 

The greatest work of the Stoic school con- 
sists in the basing of Morals on an inde- 
pendent discipline. 



A B C of Philosophy. 57 

In sharp contrast to the older code of 
morals, it built up on the the old system a 
new, independent, and worthier morality. 
With the Stoics, actions, wisdom, and virtue 
are one. All reason, all virtue, are founded 
on understanding, which is not only pure 
theory but which necessitates a penetrating 
personality. 

Philosophy, which to the Stoics is iden- 
tical with virtue, must rule life. We must 
not grieve over the* decrees of fate or over 
the sorrows of a friend, but must try to 
help immediately by actions instead of mere 
sympathy with their sorrow. We are here 
not to pity, but to help with all the strength 
of our personality. Man must rule the 
world with all its unhappiness and imper- 
fections, not so that he may become ruler of 
the world, but that he may be independent 
of it. Not the deeds, but the intentions, are 
good or evil. Moral good is placed by the 
Stoics on a higher basis than any other vir- 
tue. There is no compromise between good 
and evil. 

Marcus Aurelius especially emphasizes 
the importance of brotherly ties between 



58 AB C of Philosophy. 

all nations. It is he who first founded the 
idea of love of humanity. The world is the 
general Fatherland of all nations; as chil- 
dren of one father, the different nations 
should help and love one another. 

The philosophy of the Stoics had great 
influence on social life and in humanizing 
the lowest classes (the slaves were treated 
better, the poor better cared for, and govern- 
ment hospitals date from this period), and 
the foundation was laid for the political 
rights of the people. 

The teachings of the Stoa are the oldest 
form of cosmopolitanism. 



A B of Philosophy. 59 



CHAPTER XII. 
EPICUREANS. 

Founded by 

Epicurus (345-275 B. C.). His most im- 
portant disciple was the Roman poet Lucre- 
tius (90-55 B. C). 

The Epicureans contemplate life from its 
practical side. Only those things are 
worth aiming at, which bring forth in us 
feelings of pleasure, and contentment. 

Philosophy has to find out how we can ac- 
quire the greatest happiness, not blindly 
but with an eye to the consequences; man 
must strive not directly for the actual 
pleasure, but to escape pain and sorrow. 

The Epicurean conception of life does not 
occupy itself with the origin of the Uni- 
verse, but tries to eliminate all hindrances 



60 ABC of Philosophy. 

to the comfort of life. Life after death is 
an absolute myth, as is also the fear of 
death. 

Whether gods exist or not is a matter of 
absolute indifference. It is sufficient for us 
to know that they do not trouble themselves 
about us; the Epicureans try to free the in- 
dividual from wickedness. 

The State does not concern them as long 
as it does its duty in protecting the individ- 
ual. 

The institution of marriage is worthless. 
Free intercourse, such as friendship and 
free love, ought to be encouraged. The wise 
live so that they feel themselves gods among 
the people. Epicurus tried to ennoble the 
conceptions of pleasure, but knew nothing 
of a higher destiny. 



A B C of Philosophy. 61 



CHAPTER XIII. 
SCEPTICS. 

The founder was 

Pyrrho of Elis (360-270 B. C), and his 
disciple was Timon (230 B. C). 

While comparing earlier philosophical 
schools, Pyrrho came to the conclusion that 
Sophistry was worthless. As nothing is 
in itself beautiful, ugly, good, or evil, so 
there exists no real Truth. Only through 
subjective opinion, habit, and custom do 
things acquire their qualities; in them- 
selves they are nothing. We may not af- 
firm anything, we can only say it appears 
so. 

The wise man must not judge; hereby he 
arrives at contentment, and nothing to him 
seems absolutely worth having, as all worth 



62 ABC of Philosophy. 

is relative. Of the latter sceptics the best 
known is the doctor : 

Sextus Empiricus (about 200 A. D.). 

He disbelieves every science and mental 
and material understanding. According 
to him man should be led in practical life 
by the general rules which have come into 
practice through the observation of the con- 
tinuity of appearances. He must not allow 
himself to believe in the certainty of such 
rules beyond their practical application. 

The sceptics were of little value, as they 
only undermined dogmatism by their ever- 
lasting doubt and so contributed to the 
founding of new systems. 



A B G of Philosophy. , 63 



CHAPTER XIV. 
MYSTICS. 

The Mystics wanted to found Philosophy 
on the basis of historical religion. 

Philo of Alexandria (30 B. C.-50 A. D.), a 
Jew, amalgamated Platonism with the Mo- 
saic religion, by allegorical interpretations 
of the Old Testament and by raising the 
Jewish conceptions to a higher sphere. God 
is invisible; between God and the world 
there exists a Central Being called Logos 
(the word of God). 

This Logos is the eldest son of God, the 
World the youngest. Greatest happiness 
is the ecstasy in the contemplation of God, 
who is omnipresent, everywhere and no- 
where. His strength permeates the world. 
He did not create the world from nothing, 
but from pre-existing matter. 



64 A B G of Philosophy. 



PART III. 

CHAPTER XV. 

NEO-PLATONISM. 

Founded by 

Saccas (355 A. D.), who places the teach- 
ings of the heathen philosophers as a barrier 
against Christianity. His disciple: 

Plotinus (205-270 A. D.), tries through 
brooding over the Divine and human na- 
ture to arrive at some definite conclusion, 
and develops within himself the philosophi- 
cal mysticism of antiquity. 

His teaching: The existence of the 
world is nothing but the everlasting over- 
flow of the bounty of the Creator. Reason, 
the soul of the world, the strength of na- 
ture; everything, in fact, owes its existence 



A B C of Philosophy. 65 

to this overflow. Nature lives. Heaven and 
the stars also have souls. 

The soul of humanity came forth out of 
pre-existence, enveloped itself in an earthly 
body and fights for life after death and soul- 
wandering. 

Proclos (412-485 A. D.) was the last who 
clung to the decadent pagans; persecuted 
and looked down upon, he still continued to 
pray to his gods. He was exceedingly 
learned, perfect in his mode of life, and 
jealous for the old traditions. 

This Neo-Platonism spread as far as the 
modern Greek language. The Athenian 
school of Neo-Platonism continued to exist 
until 529 A. D. In this year the edict of 
Justinian forbade philosophical teaching 
and here ends the history of Greek Phi- 
losophy. 



66 AB C of Philosophy. 



PART IV. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. 

Greek philosophy in its later develop- 
ments shows an inclination to that concep- 
tion which in a fantastic and mystical way 
recognizes the principles of existence in a 
single divine Creator. 

This can be explained by the fact that at 
that time all moral and political ties were 
loosened, and a dissolving process took 
place. The best thinkers turned from the 
outer world and communed with them- 
selves. 

A religious streak entered philosophy, the 
beginning of which we find in the 



ABGof Philosophy. 67 

GNOSTICS. 

Gnosis means accepting the Gospels by in- 
tellectual comprehension rather than by a 
blind act of faith. Gnostics were those 
who not only believed but also wanted to 
found the Faith on a scientific basis. 

The best known are : 

Basilides (100-150 A. D.). 

Clement of Alexandria (150-211 A. D.). 

Origines (185-254 A. D.). 



68 A B G of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
SCHOLASTICS. 

The Scholastics try to unite Faith and 
Science, inasmuch as they try to systema- 
tize, to comprehend, and to demonstrate 
Theology according to ancient Philosophy. 

Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury (1033- 
1109 A. D.), who, like Plato, affirms that 
reality consists of ideas, and that these ex- 
isted before anything else. 

From this theory spring two systems: 
Realism (Anselm theory), Nominalism (the 
idea is but a name) . 

Abelard (1079-1143 A. D.). He did not 
set aside faith nor the authority of the 
Church, but he only placed them in the 
background, and tried to understand and 
investigate everything. He insisted on not 
making any difference between the Chris- 



ABCof Philosophy. 69 

tian and the pagan religions, and so came 
into conflict with the Church. 

Petrus Lombardus (died 1160 A. D.), 
studied first in Bologna and then in Paris, 
where he settled, becoming not only one of 
the most famous teachers of Theology, but 
also Bishop of Paris in 1159. His great 
work is known as "Sentiarum libri qua- 
tuor." 

Dogmatics, in this work, appear for the 
first time as a consequent systematic en- 
tirety. The contents are the theorems of 
the Fathers of the Church, which through 
refutation of the different objections be- 
comes scientifically based. 

These "Sentences" became so famous that 
not only was Lombardus called "Magister 
Sententiarum," but they also became for 
centuries the foundation of all theological 
studies. 

Albertus Magnus (1193-1280 A. D.). To 
him the teachings of Aristotle are the fun- 
damental notions of a philosophical creed. 
Philosophy is to Theology as science is to 
the Kingdom of God. 



70 AB G of Philosophy. 

Both originate from Godly understand- 
ing. The revelation of God is apparent in 
two ways. Reason and Supernatural En- 
lightenment. 

From Reason the philosopher takes his 
matter, while the theologian bases his upon 
Supernaturalism ; between them there must 
exist no contradiction; the first being less 
important than the second. 

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1325 A. D.), the 
disciple of Albertus Magnus, continues to 
develop this idea. 

In contrast to the Scholastics there arose 
the mystical speculators, who, although 
they threw some fresh light upon their sub- 
ject, also led the way to many erroneous 
ideas. (Eckart, Tauler Suso.) 



BOOK II. 



AB C of Philosophy, 73 



BOOK II. 

TRANSITION PERIOD. 

CHAPTER I. 
RENAISSANCE. 

The second half of the 15th Century and 
the beginning of the 16th were for Europe 
a period of transition (Renaissance). 

In philosophy this period endeavors to 
give to the Scholastics new principles. 

A prominent and picturesque figure of 
the period shines Giordano Bruno from 
Nolo, (1550-1600 A. D.). After an unhappy 
life of hardships in Geneva, Paris, and Lon- 
don, he was imprisoned in Venice by the 
Inquisition in 1592 and burnt in Rome in 
1600. His principal work, "Delia Causa 



74 AB C of Philosophy. 

Principio et TJno" renews a poetic panthe- 
ism. There are two principal causes, mat- 
ter and -form, of which the former is eter- 
nal; it is realized by form, which, however, 
appertains to it. All forms are cast in one 
original form, and this is the Soul of the 
world. It enfolds itself into the Universe. 
All things are but one substance, which 
always remains the same. Above the world 
stands God, the inexpressible and incom- 
prehensible One, who is the Founder of all 
things, and to whom the Soul of the World 
is but a shadow. Philosophy cannot raise 
itself to the level of His Knowledge. Birth 
is but the extension of the substance from 
its centre. The soul is a monad, one of 
those innumerable appearances of form. 
After death it returns to its centre, but no 
monad dies, as nothing in nature is lost, 
and everything is in a continual state of 
transformation. 

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1652) was 
also a renovator of ancient conceptions. He 
was neither a scholar nor a philosopher, but 
his essays are interesting and worthy of 
being read. He treats of all life's ques- 



A B C of Philosophy. 75 

tions with the reasoning of a cultivated 
man of the world. 

Reason is a weak and poor thing; to 
claim to have positive knowledge is arro- 1 
gance, because we cannot prove the con-, 
formity of our conceptions. 

To prove this we should possess a know- 
ledge of things independent of any illusions 
of the senses, which is impossible. 

Man boasts of his freedom, but the proof 
that he really is free is trifling. 

Jacob Behmen, a shoemaker (a fact that 
would seem to prove that the desire for 
knowledge and new conceptions had per- 
meated all classes), was a Christian scholar, 
who absorbed himself in the Bible and in a 
few mystical writings, and then published 
a book of his own called "Aurora," or the 
Dawn. He was persecuted and forbidden 
to write, by the Church. 



76 ABCof Philosophy. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE MODERN ERA IN PHILOSOPHY, 

Begins with 



?5 J 



Lord Bacon (1561-1626), Lord High 
Chancellor of James I. Among his chief 
works are "The Advancement of Learning," 
"De Dignitate et augmentes seientiarum," 
and the "Novum Organum." 

In the last he endeavors to renovate sci- 
ence ; and for this purpose he made a genea- 
logical tree of science. There are four dif- 
ferent falsifications of the conceptions of 
nature. To apply the inductive method to 
the sciences we must trace back our ex- 
perience to natural philosophy and clean 
the senses from all idols, or in other words, 
we must get over all preconceived opinions, 
traditions, fallacious illusions, and concep- 



A B G of Philosophy. 77 

tions. Man is but a link of the great All. 
This great All, so Bacon claims, is Nature, 
in which all reality is contained; all our 
conceptions are derived from this. Man 
must once again have confidence in his 
power of comprehension; gifts which in 
themselves are small and worthless can be- 
come great when used in an orderly and 
right manner. 

To Bacon the idea of the workings of 
the science of Nature prevails above all 
other conceptions of life. It is to him that 
we mostly owe independent and individual 
experimenting in science. He is easily un- 
derstood and interesting; examples and 
metaphors have greatly helped in the 
change of the mode of thought which took 
place during this period. His researches 
had no relation to religion, as religion does 
not allow any other but a religious point of 
view. His principal merit can be attributed 
to the strength and clearness of scientific- 
ally formulated aims, which he gave to phi- 
losophy. 

Thomas Hoboes (1588-1679) was at one 
time amanuensis to Lord Bacon. He was 



78 A B C of Philosophy. 

condemned by the Clergy because of the 
atheistic tendency of his teaching. He de- 
mands absolute separation of Religion and 
Philosophy. He distinguishes natural and 
artificial bodies, through which his philoso- 
phy divides itself into a natural philosophy, 
and a philosophy of Government. In his 
ideas on Ethics and Politics, he writes the 
celebrated saying: Humanity found itself 
at war with Nature all against all, for the 
first law of nature is self-preservation. 
Every man has the right to satisfy egotism. 
To end this everlasting war a treaty was 
agreed upon, and out of this arose the mod- 
ern State, which has become the arbitrary 
product of mankind. Laws are made to ter- 
rorize mankind; what the State decrees to 
be good, is good. The ruler should be able 
to dispose of the possessions and activities 
of the subject. 



AB G of Philosophy. 79 



CHAPTER III. 
RATIONALISM. 

Rene Descartes (Latinized Carthesius) 
(1596-1650). Among his works are "Dis- 
cours de la Methode" "Meditationes de 
Prima Philosophia" u Principia Philoso- 
phiae." He was also famous as a practical 
mathematician and physicist. It was Des- 
cartes who founded analytical geometry; 
and he also discovered many important laws 
of Optics. 

He begins with the ground of doubt, 
which he derives from the illusion of the 
senses. 

That he, the doubter, exists, he doubts 
not, and from this he derives his first af- 
firmation: Cogito, ergo sum. (Je pense, 
done j'existe; I think, therefore I exist.) 

This sentence is the criterion with which 
he sets to work at conceptions. He dis- 



80 ABGof Philosophy. 

tinguishes inborn, acquired, and self-made 
conceptions (those which come from the 
soul), and fantastic perceptions of the 
senses. 

The clearest conception is the idea of God 
as this idea is our original property, i. e., 
inborn. That God exists is not difficult to 
affirm, as it is proved by reality. 

To the Being of God belongs Truth; 
hence everything that one clearly acknow- 
ledges can confidently be taken for grant- 
ed; therefore bodies are real, and only the 
qualities are of a subjective nature. The 
nature of bodies consists in extension, the 
primary cause of this movement being God. 
During creation God gave to Nature a cer- 
tain amount of tranquility and movement. 

The nature of the Soul consists of 
thought, without which the Soul cannot 
exist, and which is not even interrupted by 
sleep. Descartes cannot explain how the 
body and the soul influence each other ; God 
created both substances and gave to them 
an inner communion, so that they influence 
one another. Through the pineal gland the 
soul governs the movements of the body. 



AB G of Philosophy. 81 

The Cartesian did not occupy himself 
much with Morality. To him virtue is that 
power and will of our Boul which makes us 
do that which we think. Everything de- 
pends upon our personal approving of 
things. The human Will is free, and can 
affirm and deny at pleasure; judgment is 
also a matter of will, but the blame of an 
erroneous judgment reverts to oneself. 
Our Reason is limited, but in contrast our 
Will is great. An erroneous judgment is 
carelessness, for which we can neither make 
our God nor our nature responsible. In 
our Will lies the possibility of erring, and 
this is to be avoided. Among the pupils 
of Descartes may be mentioned Nicolas 
Malebranche (1638-1715), a Catholic priest. 
He enlarged upon the teachings of Des- 
cartes, and the absolute separation of body 
and soul. They cannot influence one an- 
other, and when we think we feel an influ- 
ence, it is not direct, but God intervenes 
and accomplishes it. 

God is not always active, but His laws 
become effectual when the conditions are 
ready. God, as the Creator of laws (Na- 



82 A B C of Philosophy. 

ture), is the Creator of all bodily and men- 
tal phenomena. Everything that happens 
is God's doing. Through Him Malebranche 
endeavors to explain the whole mechanism 
of the world. In morals Malebranche takes 
a high place; according to him virtue con- 
sists of the moral conception and fulfilment 
of our duties. In acting, we must only obey 
duty; therefore he is one of the precursors 
of Jminanuel Kant. 



A B C of Philosophy. 83 



CHAPTER IV. 

CONTINUATION OF THE 
CARTESIAN SCHOOL. 

Spinoza (1632-1677). Benedictus (Ba- 
ruch) de Spinoza was one of the greatest 
thinkers that the world has seen. He had 
great influence upon modern thought. 

His character was philanthropic and 
sober; he devoted himself to philosophy, 
hoping that it would fill his life. After ex- 
periencing that the aims after which hu- 
manity strive are worthless and vain, he 
made up his mind to seek for something 
which would be of real value and in which 
the soul could have a part, a Something 
which could give the greatest happiness. 

The greatest happiness can only be at- 
tained by the highest perfection; all sci- 



84 AB C of Philosophy. 

ences are but means to this end. In the 
perfection of the powers of understanding 
consists the happiness of mankind. 

Spinoza published two works, one of 
which was an exposition of a Cartesian 
Work. Only after his death did his most 
important work, "Ethica Ordine Geometri- 
co demonstrata," appear. 

Spinoza's theory is that substance is the 
foundation of all things, everlasting, and 
although all things depend upon it, it is in 
itself independent. 

Substance and cause are identical. The 
cause of all things is to be called God ; God, 
not a personal Spirit, but the Eeality of all 
things. He is the evolving Nature, not the 
transcendental Creator. He is the only Na- 
ture identical with substance. Substance 
is not only active through the mere fact of 
its existence, but also by its attributes. 
These are the realities which reason recog- 
nizes in substance : A substance has as 
many attributes in proportion to the 
amount of reality it possesses. God the 
Eternal Substance, whose reality is infinite, 
possesses the greatest number of attributes. 



A B C of Philosophy. 85 

Of these innumerable qualities, man only 
recognizes those which he feels within him- 
self. 

Thought and Extension: God is a think- 
ing and an extending Being. In this theory 
Spinoza absolutely opposes the theories of 
Descartes, as extension contains divisibility, 
which is imperfect, and which, therefore, 
God cannot possess. 

We have three different kinds of under- 
standing : 

The Imaginative perceptions. 

Reason. 

Immediate conceptions. 

In the moral contemplation of mankind 
Spinoza begins with the material side. Man 
is a machine, in which everything occurs 
(through necessity) ; he is a sum of emo- 
tions through which he is made independent 
of all other causes. One emotion can only 
be effaced by another. 

The strongest of all is Self-preservation. 
Man can rid himself of all unpleasant emo- 
tions by Reason. As soon as he can make 
for himself an absolutely plain and clear 
idea of a passion it no longer is a passion. 



86 AB G of Philosophy. 

The more independent our conceptions of 
outward expressions are, the stronger is 
our Spirit. It must elevate our souls, as it 
delivers us from all passions. 

Spinoza by his definitions of the emotions 
did a great service to physiology. His moral 
teachings are intellectual, viz. : virtue de- 
pends on understanding (Socrates), and is 
naturalistic, i. e., a necessary consequence 
of human nature, a product of circum- 
stances. Good and evil are but relative 
conceptions. Not a reality in the objects 
themselves, but only affecting them through 
comparison. Good is that which makes us 
perfect. The highest virtue is to acknowl- 
edge and to love God; not the recompense, 
but virtue for itself, is complete happiness. 

Spinoza's greatness consists in the im- 
mense energy with which he weaves the 
manifold threads of his philosophical the- 
ory into a tissue and in strict accuracy. 



A B of Philosophy. 87 



CHAPTER V. 

PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLAND. 

John Locke was born at Wrington, near 
Bristol, in 1632, and died in 1714. He 
studied medicine, literature, and the Car- 
tesian philosophy at Christ Church, Ox- 
ford. 

Having been a great friend of the first 
Earl of Shaftesbury (grandfather of the 
philosopher), he had much influence on the 
education of the Earl's grandchild. 

When Shaftesbury fell out with James 
II and had to flee the country, Locke fol- 
lowed him. On the accession of William 
of Orange, he became Commissioner of Ap- 
peals. 

Already in 1667 Locke had written his 
first "Letter concerning Toleration"; this 
was followed in 1690 by the Second Letter 



88 A B C of Philosophy. 

concerning Toleration, and in 1692 by a 
third. Death overtook him while he was 
finishing the fourth. 

In these four letters, Locke declares that 
unrestricted and equal tolerance of all opin- 
ions and every religion is a necessary right. 

Not only should members of all Chris- 
tian sects freely exercise their rights, but 
the profession even of the Jewish, Moham- 
medan, or any Pagan religion should not 
expose a man to the loss of the rights of 
citizenship. 

Through these letters Locke takes a fore- 
most place among the religious free think- 
ers of England. 

What has won a name for him in the 
history of Philosophy is the "Essay con- 
cerning Human Understanding" (1689- 
1690), which makes him a precursor of Im- 
manuel Kant. It also started the contro- 
versy between the Empirical system of the 
eighteenth century in England, Germany, 
and France, and the Aristotelian Scholas- 
ticism of the Middle Ages and the Car- 
tesianism of his own times, which ended in 
the Victory of Empiricism. 



A B C of Philosophy. 89 

Among other things, Locke also wrote 
"Thoughts on Education." He died at 
Oates (Essex), where Lady Masham was 
educating her son according to his ideas. 

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727), was a fa- 
mous natural philosopher. He attended a 
grammar school at Grantham, matriculat- 
ed at Trinity College, Cambridge, 1661, and 
became B.A. in 1665. He was absent from 
Cambridge during the plague in 1665-66. 
He discovered the "binomial theorem," 
the differential Calculus and the integral 
Calculus, computed the art of Hyperbola, 
and conceived the idea of universal gravi- 
tation. In other words, Newton is the 
founder of physical astronomy. Following 
Descartes and Keppler, he laid down the 
axiom of the binomial theorem ; and he was 
really one of the most admired mathemati- 
cal geniuses of his time. 

In 1667 he became fellow of Trinity Col- 
lege, and turned his attention to optics and 
made a reflecting telescope. He became 
Lucasian professor in 1669. His second re- 
flecting telescope was sent to the Royal So- 



90 AB C of Philosophy. 

ciety in 1671. He was made F.R.S. in 1672, 
and became President in 1705. 

The idea of universal gravitation had pre- 
sented itself to his mind in 1665 through 
the falling of an apple. In 1680 he discov- 
ered how to calculate the orbit of a body 
moving under the influence of a central 
force, but published no account of these dis- 
coveries, as he was unable to solve the ques- 
tion of the mutual attraction of two spheres 
which he gives us in his first two books, "De 
motu," and "Philosophise naturalis, Prin- 
cipia Mathematical' Other great works 
are : "Optics, or a Treatise of the reflexions, 
refractions and inflections, and colours of 
light," a discourse on the analysis of White 
sunlight into various colored rays through 
the prism; "Arithmetica Universalis;" and 
the "Analysis per acquatones Numero ter- 
minorum infinitas." 

These works revolutionized all the ex- 
isting theories of his time. 

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of 
Shaftesbury (born in London in 1671, died 
in Naples 1713), was brought up according 
to the ideas of John Locke. When nineteen 



A B G of Philosophy. 91 

years of age, lie traveled on the Continent, 
especially in Holland and Italy. In Holland 
he made the acquaintance of Bayle (the 
well-known philosopher). 

"The Letters to a Young Man at the Uni- 
versity ," written in the years 1706-10, only 
appeared after his death in 1713. In 1711 
he published a collection of his writings 
under the title of "Characteristics of Men, 
Manners, Opinions and Times." 

Shaftesbury distinguishes three kinds of 
affections: 1. Natural or brotherly affec- 
tions, which aim at the general good, and 
which drive us sometimes even to sacrifice. 
2. What Shaftesbury calls Self -affection, 
that is, desire for our personal good. 3. 
Those unnatural affections which lead 
neither to public nor to private good. 

Only through Piety can absolute Virtue 
be reached, although we must in ourselves 
be good to understand even in the smallest 
degree the goodness of God. Virtue must 
be founded absolutely on itself; no occur- 
rences, habit, fantasy, or will-power, mot 
even God, can give it to us. 



92 A B C of Philosophy. 

Shaftesbury's writings greatly influenced 
some of the best-known thinkers of the 
eighteenth century, among whom were Vol- 
taire, Diderot, Leibnitz, and Herder. 

David Hume (born in Ediaburgh 1711, 
died 1776). He studied Jurisprudence at 
the Edinburgh University. In 1734 he went 
to France, where he stayed eight years, and 
brought back his first book, "Treatise upon 
Human Nature." He then published in 
1741 his Essays: Moral, Political, and Lit- 
erary, followed by "A Dissertation on the 
Passions," "An Inquiry concerning the Prin- 
ciples of Morals." The third volume con- 
sisted of a remodelling of his first treatise, 
while a fourth volume, "The Natural His- 
tory of Religion," terminated his collection 
of essays. 

In 1751, having returned to Edinburgh 
after a few years of travel on the Continent 
as Secretary to Gen. Sinclair, he began to 
write his "History of England from the Ro- 
man Invasion to the Revolution in 1688." 
By the keenness of his insight, the absolute 
justice and the non-partisanship of his 



A B C of Philosophy. 93 

judgment, Hume became one of the great- 
est historians of his period. 

In 1763 he followed the Marquis of Hart- 
ford as Secretary to Paris, where his ar- 
rival caused much excitement, and where 
he became acquainted with all the great 
men, Diderot, d'Alembert, Turgot, and even 
with the dreamer, J. J. Rousseau. 

In 1767, Hume retired to Edinburgh, 
where he died in 1776. After his death his 
"Dialogues concerning Natural Religion" 
"Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of 
the Soul" were published. 

Hume takes the Bacon-Locke Empiricism 
as the starting point, and tries to make a 
thorough experiment as to Human strength. 
He also tries to find the limits of our un- 
derstanding. According to him, all our 
Conceptions are partly Impressions; i. e., 
impressions of our senses, ideas, and percep- 
tions, being but copies of our Impressions, 
are consequently less strong and vivid. In 
religious subjects there only exists one 
Truth, but no knowledge, although religion 
has developed itself from a psychological 
necessity. 



94 AB G of Philosophy. 

Hume places Ethics rather on a basis 
of social Virtues, such as well-wishing, fair- 
ness, etc., than on self-interested qualities. 

The most natural and moral feeling of all 
is that of Sympathy, participation in the 
pleasures and sorrows of others. Hume's 
influence was very great, not only in Eng- 
land, but also in Germany, where he es- 
pecially attracted the attention of Kant. 



AB C of Philosophy. 95 



CHAPTER VI. 

PHILOSOPHY IN FRANCE. 

The eighteenth century, enlightened as it 
was, did but little for Philosophy, but the 
few writings of that time became so popu- 
lar that they greatly influenced the whole 
train of the thought of the period. The 
French developed Locke's theories to the 
point of empiricism and materialism. 

Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu 
(1689-1755) propagated Locke's theory of 
the Constitutional Monarchy in his "Esprit 
des lois" He examined the foundations 
and the guarantee of political freedom. 
Laws must be adapted to the individual 
Natures of the Nations. Political freedom 
means that man can do that which he ought 
to do. Judicial power should be absolutely 
independent of the executive and legislative 
power. 



96 ABCof Philosophy. 

Jean Francois Arouet de Voltaire (1694- 
1778) owes his great influence to the fact 
that he envelops his teachings in wit and 
humor, and was an opponent of the 
Church and of Civil despotism. 

In spite of his being a free thinker, he 
affirms that the belief in a requiting and 
punishing God is a necessary mainstay of 
moral order. 

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). 
His principal works in philosophy are : "Le 
Gontrat Social" and "Emile" 

He thinks that the ideal constitution for 
a State is a democracy allowing the great- 
est possible freedom and equality to all. 

The material well being of the people 
is the highest aim. Inequality of position 
is evolved through the civilization called 
forth by Art and Science. This is the 
greatest evil and it must be eradicated. 
Humanity, to become once more content, 
must return to its primitive state. 

In "Emile" he lays the foundation of an 
education based on simplicity. 

Etienne Bonnet de Condillac (1715- 
1780). In his chief work u Traite des Sen- 



A B C of Philosophy. 97 

sations" (The Perceptions of the Senses) 
de Oondillac claims that sensation is the 
source of our conceptions. All motives of 
will depend upon the sensation of the senses. 
Metaphysics do not give us any solution as 
to the existence of things. We cannot create 
any substance, but we can create qualities. 
These do not exist outside ourselves, but 
only modify our sensations. Not the exist- 
ence of things but our own existence is to 
be found in the qualities we give the objects. 

Claude Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771) 
agrees with Condillac. His most important 
work, "De VEsprit" was much read and ad- 
mired during his lifetime. He says that 
metaphysical investigations are useless, as 
we have no real knowledge. He occupied 
himself mostly with practical questions. 

The behavior of a person is defined by 
his passions, which all find their source in 
the love of sensuous pleasures. The laws 
of Society should be so ordained that the 
personal advantage of the individual should 
go towards the general good, and thus in the 
end benefit the individual. 



98 ABCof Philosophy. 

Virtue consists in the abnegation of love 
for the general good. It is absnrd to ask 
of mankind to do good for the sake of 
goodness alone. 

Paul Heinrich Dietrich Baron v. Eol- 
bach (1723-1789) was born at Heidelsheim, 
but lived most of his life in Paris. It was 
here he published under a pseudonym "Le 
Systeme de la Nature" Matter is not a 
mass of dead or passive substance, move- 
ment is not given to it by an outward cause, 
but is an immediate and innate energy 
thereof. Outside the usual laws of move- 
ment appertaining to the original parts of 
matter, there are also special laws for every 
different sort of matter. Some matter pos- 
sesses the faculty of uniting itself, while 
other kinds are unable to do so. 

From this is derived what is called in 
physics affinity and relation, attraction and 
repulsion. The moralists in the world call 
this, love, hatred, friendship, and enmity. 
In the manifoldness of matter and of move- 
ment Nature becomes an active and living 
Whole, whose parts — although unconscious- 
ly — necessarily unite, to keep up activity 



AB G of Philosophy. 99 

and life. Man is not a complex being; 
thinking and willing are but modifications 
of the brain. Religion owes creation to the 
suffering and the ignorance of mankind. 
Only he is virtuous whose activity aims at 
the good of humanity, only he is wicked 
whose thought and activity aims at harm- 
ing his fellow creatures. Just as the Uni- 
verse is founded upon the necessity or the 
everlasting relation of things, so on this 
also is based Morality. Virtue is its own 
reward, the really virtuous man is content 
with the inner consciousness of well doing. 
In time of misadventure, he finds a support 
within himself. He is aware of his dignity 
and consoles himself with the thought of 
the justice of his cause. These supports are 
wanting to the wicked. The teachings of 
French Philosophy were propagated by 
popular writings through the whole of 
French Society. Theatres, Taverns and 
Salons were the schools where they were 
imbibed. 

Eighteen years after the death of Hol- 
bach, the new teaching set up its throne 
in the streets and armed the masses. 



100 A B C of Philosophy 



CHAPTER VII. 
PHILOSOPHY IN GERMANY. 

Leibnitz (1646-1716). 

While in England and France the new 
philosophical theories had begun to 
flourish, in Germany all scientific life was 
crushed by the thirty years war. Only very 
slowly could a revival of philosophy take 
place. 

One of the best known philosophers of the 
seventeenth century was Leibnitz. He tried 
to formulate a combined philosophy, i. e., 
he tried to link scholastics and Aristotelian- 
ism to the new theories, speculation to 
scientific evolution, and science to Chris- 
tianity. He gives a new meaning to the 
word Substance, defining it as a simple 
being, having originally an individual 
power, and being self-sufficing and an epi- 



A B C of Philosophy. 101 

tome of the Universe. All bodily and men- 
tal phenomena can be traced back to the 
single substance. 

Monads are mirrors of the Universe. 
The most perfect monad is God, his power 
and activity being unlimited. The harmon- 
izing activity of body and soul he explains 
as follows : The body and soul each has its 
own laws, both agreeing on account of a 
pre-established harmony. The soul acts for 
the final, the body -for mechanical causes, 
both harmonizing. In one of his poorest 
works Leibnitz tries to justify the actions 
of God in reference to will. 

He says that God created the most per- 
fect world possible, the motive of creation 
being his unlimited goodness. Leibnitz's sys- 
tem caused great sensation and profoundly 
influenced the thought of that time, as he 
seemed to reconcile all opposites. 

Christian von Wolff (1679-1754) re- 
novated in an obscure manner the theories 
of Leibnitz. He takes his method from 
mathematics, beginning all his dissertations 
with definitions which he leads to the single 
proposition, whereby he treats the simplest 



102 ABC of Philosophy. 

questions as fully as the most difficult. 
Wolff does not wish to go against experi- 
ence and general comprehension; on the 
contrary, he only wishes to teach that 
which can be mathematically proved, and 
understood by everyone. 

His Ontology treats of the fundamental 
conceptions of existence ; this is followed by 
Cosmology, in which he treats of all moral 
conceptions; this again is followed by Psy- 
chology, which he treats of rationally, and 
he closes with Theology. 

In ethics Wolff emphasizes Reason as the 
criterion of our actions. Unity is not de- 
pendent on the understanding of God, as 
virtue is given to mankind by nature. 
Wolff's philosophy is systematic and en- 
deavors to become one with general cul- 
ture. From this activity springs the Ger- 
man enlightened philosophy, which does not 
adhere to one system, but embraces all. 
Among the most popular of these philoso- 
phers are: 

Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786). Out of 
pure aversion to Spinoza he adheres to 
Judaism, which he rationalizes. In his writ- 



ABC of Philosophy. 103 

ings he tries to establish the reality of 
Natural Keligion and glorifies Judaism as 
its foundation. It was he who gave Lessing 
the model for his Nathan der Weise, which 
incorporates the type of modern humani- 
tarian philosophy and Jewish Rationalism. 
From this popular philosophy rises: 

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), 
who tries to prove that the whole life of 
the soul of humanity is a development of 
the natural perfection in man and that the 
different religions are the steps made dur- 
ing the process of the civilizing of mankind. 

Following these more critical than posi- 
tive ideas of Lessing: 

Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803), 
tries to prove that although poetry, philos- 
ophy and religion are different in them- 
selves, they are all closely related develop- 
ments of the ideals of humanity. 

He also endeavors to understand history 
through philosophy, and it is especially in 
history that he wishes to apply his humani- 
tarian ideals. These ideals are further en- 
larged upon by Goethe and Schiller. 



104 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the most 
important of modern philosophers was 
born in Konigsberg. He studied Theology, 
Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy at the 
University of his native town where later 
on he became professor of Logic and Meta- 
physics. 

Greatly influenced by the English philos- 
ophers Kant came to the conclusion that 
everything which had as yet been accom- 
plished in Metaphysics was but vague con- 
jecture, and therefore determined to fix all 
the principles which are independent of 
empiricism. This he accomplished in his 
masterpiece : 

Die Kritik der Reinen Yernunft (Criti- 
cism of Pure Eeason). 

In this work Kant affirms that Reason 
alone can be made the basis for all critical 



AB C of Philosophy. 105 

observation. His intention was to make an 
"Inventory" of everything which had been 
given to the world at every age of philoso- 
phical research, i. e., everything that had 
been theoretically (metaphysics) accepted, 
practically (theory of knowledge) neces- 
sarily and esthetically (ethics) appreciated 
or rejected. 

He therefore divides the conceptions into 
"a priori," analytical and "a posteriori," 
synthetical, conclusions. 

Analytical conceptions (Urtheile) join 
the subject (i. e., the inner consciousness) 
to the object (outer facts) through identity, 
which means, that the opinion is the same 
as the object. Ex. : The rose is red — the red 
could not exist without the rose, in fact is 
partly contained therein. 

In Synthetical conclusions the predi- 
cate is independent or outside the range of 
the notion (nota bene the subject which 
covers the notion). In other words if I 
represent by predicate a different thing to 
that which is described by the subject or 
notion, the conclusion is a synthetical one, 
if on the other hand the predicate does not 



106 ABC of Philosophy. 

go beyond the notion it becomes identified 
and consequently the conclusion is analy- 
tical. 

Metaphysics only deal with synthetical 
conclusions which are "a priori," i. e., in- 
dependent of Experience. 

The question then is: How can a syn- 
thetical "a priori" conclusion be arrived at, 
Metaphysics being of a transcendental na- 
ture? In Physics, however, "a priori" de- 
ductions become possible as they are based 
on Evidence. 

From this principal question, three prin- 
cipal sub-questions ensue, viz: 

I. How are pure mathematics possible? 
(Ans. By transcendental Esthetics, i. e., 

criticism of Empiricism.) 

II. How do pure Physics become pos- 
sible? 

(The answer lies in transcendental an- 
alytics, i. e., the Criticism of Reason.) 

III. (a) How do Metaphysics become 
possible? 

(The answer is to be found in transcen- 
dental Dialectics.) 



ABGof Philosophy. 107 

(b) How are Metaphysics possible as a 
Science? 

(The answer is to be found in transcen- 
dental Theory or Method teaching.) 

I. Pure Mathematics are possible be- 
cause there exist "a priori" self evident 
facts such as space and time. 

II. Pure Physics are possible because 
there exist perfectly clear conceptions and 
fundamental principles in Reason. 

III. (a) Metaphysics considered as the 
doctrine of the supernatural were possible, 
as there exist ideas which are beyond Ex- 
perience, but 

(b) Metaphysics can never become a 
science, as science can only exist when the 
facts of which it consists have been proved 
by Experience. 

Therefore a purely Metaphysical philos- 
ophy is impossible, although a Metaphysi- 
cal philosophy of Nature comprehending 
phenomena exists. To this is added a Meta- 
physical Philosophy of Morals which asks: 
What are we to do? What can or what 



108 ABC of Philosophy. 

shall we hope for? To this Kant joins a 
"Critique of the Will" and a "Critique of 
Religious Belief" 

I. According to Kant's transcendental 
estheticism the "a priori" conceptions 
Space and Time are the outcome of our 
intelligence, i. e., we think them thus : 

Space is the form under which alone out- 
ward contemplation becomes possible. 

Time likewise does not exist in itself 
and yet does not appertain to the objects. — 
What they are in themselves we can never 
know, consequently space and time are only 
forms of phenomena not of noumena, 
things in themselves. In spite of this, 
transcendental Esthetics impress upon us 
that the conception of space and time have 
an objective validity, as according to Ex- 
perience every object is subjected to Time 
and Space. 

II. Transcendental Analytics give us the 
fundamental principles by which our in- 
tellect is able to grasp all existing facts. 
The central principle from which we de- 
rive the others is judgment. 



AB C of Philosophy. 109 

Kant distinguishes : 

Judgment of 'Quantity' 
" 'Quality' 
" " 'Relation' 

" " 'Modality', etc. 

From these forms of judgment he derives 
a series of categories which relate to things 
of Experience, as only through these can 
the objects of Experience be meditated. In 
themselves they are but empty formulas; 
= Ex — Unity, possibility, necessity, etc. 

From these categories, he further derives 
a series of conceptions. Ex. : By joining 
a series of observations, the result is Ex- 
perience; by joining the cause and the 
effect we derive change or variation. If 
we do not join observations we can never 
have Experience, but only disconnected 
Perceptions. 

III. In Transcendental Dialectics Kant 
tries to explain that Reason forms princi- 
ples out of ideas and to our intelligence 
gives a firm basis. As soon, however, as 
Reason tries to turn these principles into 
practical Experience, we are liable to draw 



110 ABC of Philosophy. 

false conclusions. Ex. It is a false con- 
clusion that the soul is immortal. This 
affirmation is a Paralogium of physiology 
for which we have no proof one way or the 
other. Kant gives us a series of such theses 
and antitheses which can be affirmed and 
denied with equal right. 

With reference to rational Theology, 
Kant proves that the idea of God is but 
the empty Ideal of Pure Reason, all proofs 
thereof being transient and unsatisfactory. 
The idea of a Highest Being only serves as 
a guide to our actions. 

Ideas of God, Love, Freedom, etc., are 
only practical insomuch as we are inward- 
ly and morally convinced of their necessity 
and reality. 

The illusion of being able to base theoret- 
ically the Idea of Absolute Necessity has 
led to the erroneous view that Metaphysical 
philosophy is a theory of the Supernatural, 
but there exists a metaphysical philosophy 
of Ethics. These are treated of in the 
''Critique of Practical Reason" and in "The 
Foundation of the Metaphysics of Ethics," 



AB G of Philosophy. Ill 

Practical Reason according to Kant is 
that Force which differing from theoretical 
Reason strives and acts. There is a law of 
Reason which regulates our desires regard- 
less of lust or personal advantage. He does 
not believe that the laws of morality are the 
condition of everlasting beatitude, nor that 
God can give it to us, but that it is a law 
contained in Reason. 

The fundamental law, says Kant, is 
"Handele so dass die Maxime deines Wil- 
lens, zugleich als Princip einer allgemeinen 
Gesetz zehung gelten konne (Act, in such 
manner that the maxims of your Will may 
be principles of general legislation. 

In his work "The Metaphysical Begin- 
nings of the Science of Laws," Kant treats 
of the philosophy of laws. "Alle menschen 
sollen frei sein im Handeln" (Every man 
should be free to act). The main question 
is: What consideration (forced on us by 
law) should we have towards one another 
in order that each may retain his freedom? 

In legislation, Kant's models are, Mon- 
tesquieu, Rousseau, and Locke. To him the 
Republic is the ideal State conducing to en- 



112 AB C of Philosophy. 

during peace. "Religion within the bounds 
of reason only" contains Kant's philosophy 
of religion. Religion must be founded on 
Morals and not morals on religion. The 
only really true religious sentiment lies in 
the cognizance that all our duties are the 
commands of God. As soon as religious 
Dogma has a moral hold it becomes valua- 
ble. The way in which we venerate the 
Deity he considered of no consequence 
whatever, as there are no laws to guide us in 
the regulating of our lives and the fulfil- 
ment of our duties. 

Among Kant's writings are : 

"The Critique of the Faculty of Judg- 

"ing>" 
"The Dreams of a Ghost Seer." 
"Be Mundi Sensibilis atque Intelli- 

"gihilis Forma et Principiis." 
"On Philosophy in General." 

His most characteristic theories are: 

1. Space and Time are subjective "a 
priori" forms of perception. 



AB C of Philosophy. 113 

II. The difference between Thought and 
Cognizance. 

Thought is but a conception having no 
proofs as to the reality of its object; 
through sensation it becomes real. Every- 
thing belonging to the imagination is sub- 
jective. 



114 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONTROVERSY ON THE 
TEACHINGS OF KANT. 

The teachings of Immanuel Kant pro- 
voked much controversy among contempo- 
raries. It will suffice to mention in this 
connection Jacobi and Hamann. 

Jacobi (1743-1819) agrees with Kant in 
admitting that real knowledge can only 
originate through deduction of the "a priori" 
conception, but this again leads to Panthe- 
ism, Spinoza's system, and proves to be a 
contradiction. 

Jacobi affirms that man possesses in his 
innermost heart the source of an immedi- 
ate consciousness concerning all questions 
of belief. We feel the presence of a per- 
sonal God, the Freedom of our Will, and 



AB G of Philosophy. 115 

the worthiness of a virtuous life. Reason 
cannot give us these necessary convictions. 
In spite of his better judgment Jacobi lays 
himself open to criticism and owns up in 
a letter to a friend : 

"You see I am still the same, a pagan 
through Keason, and a Christian with all 
my heart and soul. So I swim between two 
currents which I cannot unite, but which 
both carry me away. Just as much as the 
one carries me forward, just so much does 
the other pull me back." 

Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788) finds 
himself in exactly the same position. He 
opposes Kant's criticism by the unity of 
Feeling and of Faith. 

Kant's teachings also found many admir- 
ers and followers who popularized his 
works. Such were: 

Professor Schultz of Konigsberg. 

Salomon Mainon. 

S. Sigismund Beck. 

They all agree that the assumption, that 
things in themselves are the causes of our 
feelings, is absurd — but that Kant had not 
been the only one to affirm this. The great 



116 ABC of Philosophy. 

sensation caused by Kant's theories in 
Germany was not felt in other countries, 
as German philosophy was little known in 
England and in France, although the Ger- 
mans were great students of the philosophy 
of other nations. 

Kant's philosophy was too difficult for 
other nations to understand; it was only 
much later that his teaching was made 
known in England, where it soon found 
many admirers. 



AB G of Philosophy. 117 



CHAPTER X 



Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814) 
agrees with Kant. He grasps the trans- 
cendental idealism in all its purity by 
affirming that knowledge is the principle 
of existence and the Subject as the princi- 
ple of the Object. In 1807-1808 he was ab- 
sorbed in politics, and delivered his "Ad- 
dresses to the German Nation" Among 
his many writings are to be mentioned 
"The System of Moral Teaching " "On the 
basis of our Faith and the supreme gov- 
ernment of the world by God." 

Fichte endeavors to derive the whole of 
his philosophy from a single principle, 
which he calls the self-consciousness (Ego 
is the fundamental principle, from which 
he derives everything). His method is the 
following : 



118 ABO of Philosophy. 

He starts on a "thesis" and tries to find 
through analysis an "antithesis," and 
unites them to a new "thesis." Fichte is 
convinced that nothing exists in itself. All 
objects are what they are thought to be, 
the real world is only confirmed by the 
"ego." All Eeality originates through Be- 
lief. If we assume an outer world we only 
do so for our own interests. 

When we believe in Reality, this is only 
a conclusion of our Will power. He thinks 
that Kant's teachings are to be under- 
stood in an idealistic manner, the Object 
being in itself what we, through certain 
laws of the mind, imagine it to be. 

From this last mental effort we arrive at 
the following conclusion: 

The principal basis of the Reality of the 
Ego is the original antagonism between the 
Ego and a Something outside it, of which 
we can only say that it is opposed to the 
Ego. From this outside Manifestation, 
however, nothing new is brought to the 
Ego. Everything evolves out of it into 
eternity. The Ego is only put into action 
by the immediate opposition of the out- 



ABC of Philosophy. 119 

ward Something, without which it would 
never have acted; and but for this activity 
it would never have existed. This outside 
manifestation is only motion, and can only 
be felt as a motive power. 

Fichte agrees with Kant on the funda- 
mental laws of Nature, i .e., the conception 
of Right is the conception of the relations 
of free individuals towards each other, and 
is quite independent of the laws of moral- 
ity. 

The conception of fight is therefore only 
technically practicable. In his teachings 
on morality he says: "Will is free, and 
unfree. Will is a nonentity. When a man 
wills it, he is free; if he is not free, it is 
because he does not will to be so, and lets 
others drive him. All morality can be 
traced back to this principle. Let every- 
one fulfil his destination. Fichte conse- 
quently terminates much of what Kant 
began; not only philosophy, but also his 
attitude towards religion. 

That "Ego" which brings forth the psy- 
chological and moral world system must 
also evolve the idea of God. God as a sub- 



120 ABC of Philosophy. 

stance is impossible; He can only be the 
living, acting, and moral support; in other 
words the assurance thereof. God is a 
Being freed from all sense emotions, the 
Ruler, so to speak, of the transcendental 
world. 

Should this life not be considered use- 
less, we must look upon it merely as the 
means to the end, which is a life after 
death. Fichte is strictly rationalistic; he 
derives Being from conceptions and iden- 
tifies them. 

His teaching is a rigorous one, especially 
his formation of the true religion, which 
consists of considering life as the necessary 
development of an originally perfect and 
happy life. 



A B C of Philosophy. 121 



CHAPTER XI. 

Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854) was 
the son of a clergyman. He studied theol- 
ogy, and became a professor in Jena. His 
philosophy is not consistent, for he changes 
his opinions in every book, his ideas are 
not quite clear and his deductions are il- 
logical. His lively fancy and his poetical 
conceptions of nature and of history 
brought him a great many admirers. He 
soon came into touch with Romanticism 
and took religion and philosophy from his- 
torical sources. His philosophical writ- 
ings have all a strain of romanticism; he 
has confused the teachings of all the great 
thinkers in his writings. Nevertheless, his 
lectures were always enthusiastically re- 
ceived. 

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770- 
1831) received a splendid classical educa- 



122 A B G of Philosophy. 

tion, studied theology, and soon became fa- 
miliar with Kant's and Fichte's writings. 

Hegel's "Logic" has for subject the de- 
lineation of God as an eternal Being be- 
fore the creation of the world. 

His great mind imposed upon the re- 
ligious, legal, philosophical, and esthetical 
worlds of his time; and he will always be 
regarded as one of the pioneers of philo- 
sophical research. His teachings really re- 
sulted in the formation of quite a set of 
philosophers, who gathered under his roof 
and professed to belong to his school, which 
was perhaps the most remarkable, both in 
its number as in the quality of its members. 

The subtlety of his ideas lay in his pow- 
erful deductions from Kant's doctrines, 
which were carried to an extreme. 

In a way Hegel can be considered as the 
prophet of Kant's philosophy, especially in 
the idealistic direction; and he extracted 
from Fichte, Kant, and his own philosophy 
the very best results. Although different 
in terms, he comes practically to the same 
conclusion as the above mentioned, namely, 
that reason is the only really real thing, 



AB C of Philosophy. 123 

and that therefore not necessarily every- 
thing which is real is reason, bnt the rea- 
son is necessarily real. The result of the 
world's progress is to raise the originally 
unconscious reason to spiritual reason. 

His theory is a system with three parts 
(1) Logic, (2) Natural Philosophy, (3) 
Spiritual Philosophy, with the dialectic 
methods constituting the pillars on which 
modern philosophy is based. Hegel says: 
"Science is the comprehended history, the 
memory and seat, of the Absolute Spirit." 

The forces of Nature are the realization 
of the idea which has the tendency to be- 
come Spiritual. These are, therefore: 
Subjective, Objective, and Absolute. 

Subjective Spirit : It does not know that 
it exists. 

Objective Spirit: Has become conscious 
of its existence. 

The Absolute Spirit, God, is that eternal 
and real Truth in which Keason takes an 
independent part. Nature and history are 
but the outward forms of God's omnipo- 
tence. 

Hegel's system is the best worked-out ra- 



124 ABC of Philosophy. 

tionalism, into which the most opposite ele- 
ments are interwoven. His fundamental 
idea is that thinking and being are identi- 
cal. Together with Fichte and Schelling 
he represents purely Objective Idealism. 

Friedrich Ernst Daniel Bchleiermacher 
(1768-1834), son of a clergyman, was also 
a clergyman. His most important works 
are "Reven, Ueber Die Religion" and "Mono- 
logen" and are criticisms on the teaching 
of Morality. Schleiermacher represents 
Spinoza's pantheism, but says that Religion 
is absolutely different from Knowledge. To 
him, philosophy means the search for the 
Absolute, and the attaining to a clear un- 
derstanding of it. 

The history of philosophy is the unful- 
filled longing for the Absolute. On this 
sceptical basis he founds his theoretical, 
and in ethics, his practical philosophy. 

He gives self-consciousness as the con- 
cluding agreement between thinking and 
being. Space and time are the ways and 
means for the existence of things, and not 
our imagination. Every individual exist- 
ence must be bodily and mental. 



A B G of Philosophy. 125 

In thought God is always One, not mani- 
fold. The world fills space and time, while 
the Deity is beyond space or time. He as- 
serts the independence of Will, which even 
plants possess. Ethics are the expression 
of Reason. The greatest good is that which 
is brought forth by moral actions; ethics 
are not a single good, but a chain of all 
truths. Example: Family, State, Church, 
Science, and Art. 

Eeligion is not a science ; it has no Truth, 
and therefore can not clash with other 
teaching. 

Religion is a pious feeling, in which God 
reveals Himself to man, and in which man 
realizes his dependence on God. 

Schleiermacher considers the chief dog- 
mas of Paganism, Judaism, and Christian- 
ity as necessary steps towards perfection. 

Johann Friedrich Eeroart (1776-1841). 
A serious and zealous follower of Kant, 
who adheres strictly to the standpoint of 
criticism, and who wishes to solve by re- 
flection the contradictions which Kant's 
philosophy contains. 



126 A B G of Philosophy. 

Some of his theories are: If we do not 
wish to return to the mire from which Kant 
has extracted us, we must keep to the as- 
sertion that everything of which we are 
conscious is pure imagination. Position 
and not existence is the purpose of things 
(the absolute position of the object of our 
thoughts). The soul is a simple being 
without any qualities, and has only the 
possibility of development and preserva- 
tion. To have Keason means to judge by 
means of a highly developed understand- 
ing. To be sensible means to reflect, and 
then to judge by the conclusion drawn from 
this reflection. 

Herbart puts philosophy under the con- 
ception of estheticism, and concludes from 
this that ethics are a science which judges 
the relations of Will in an ethical and an 
esthetic manner. 

He bases pedagogics and government 
upon these ethical and psychological teach- 
ings. 

Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) 
was professor of physics at Leipzig. His 
teaching is : 



ABC of Philosophy. 127 

The only empirical fact is the conscious- 
ness felt by each individual. 

All spiritual events in the human and in 
the animal organization are parallel to bod- 
ily events. All mechanical events in Na- 
ture are accompanied by spiritual ones. 

Spinoza looks upon the body and soul as 
the two sides of one and the same being. 
According to our standpoint, we look upon 
the object as spirit or matter. 

Matter is a sum of atoms. 

Spirit is a chain of conscious units; the 
whole world is the representation (sum- 
mary) of a perfect knowledge, namely, the 
Deity. 

The soul as the bond of the body is in 
reality the same. In a narrower sense the 
seat of the soul is the brain, spine, and 
nerves. 

Plants also have souls, i. e., they have 
real feelings. 



128 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER XII. 

FRENCH PHILOSOPHERS OF THE 
XIX CENTURY. 

The philosophy of the nineteenth cen- 
tury begins after the outbreak of the Rev- 
olution of 1789, which had opened up a 
new field of thought. 

Auguste Gomte (1798-1857) gave him- 
self up completely to Metaphysics. Going 
crazy through overwork, he was put into an 
asylum, but was soon cured, and became 
professor at the "Ecole Poly technique." 

Comte is the founder of Positivism. He 
argued against Metaphysics and every in- 
troduction of the causes of the beginning 
and of the end of the cosmos into philoso- 
phy. As these problems will always remain 
obscure, we can only observe facts; every 



A B C of Philosophy. 129 

explanation as to their probable causes or 
relations is useless. The basis of all sci- 
ence is Mathematics, followed by Physics, 
Chemistry, and Logic. Logic is the most 
important of these, without which the 
others cannot be understood. He arranges 
his theory according to the laws of Statics 
(numbers) and Dynamics (classifying 
things according to their derivation). 

Statics deal with the conditions of the 
stability or equilibrium of the different 
parts of society, an'd is the theory of the 
mutual action and reaction of contempo- 
raneous social phenomena. 

Dynamics deal with the laws of social 
evolution of all classes. 

With Positivism we arrive at Socialism, 
which is represented by St. Simon. Promi- 
nent among socialists is : 

Pierre Proudhon (1807-1865), who, em- 
bittered against every religious and social 
law, denounces these as the source of all 
misery, and considers all possessions as 
theft. 



130 ABC of Philosophy. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ENGLISH PHILOSOPHERS OF THE 
XIX CENTURY. 

Jeremiah Bentham (1747-1832) founds 
Morality on general necessity, and fights 
against the idea that morality has a divine 
origin. 

Economy is the greatest interest of poli- 
tics. 

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was influ- 
enced by Auguste Comte. His teachings 
are: 

1. Human knowledge can only take as 
subjective such causes as are given us 
through experience; scientific investigation 
is only an affirmation of facts. 

2. There does not exist a general Truth. 
What we call Truth is only an aggregation 
of certain truths which we unite into one. 



AB G of Philosophy. 131 

Mill is the founder of modern logic, and 
is very careful in his assertions. He treat- 
ed the questions of Political Economy very 
successfully, and had at heart the interests 
of the industrial classes. 

Herbert Spencer (1820-1904) gives us a 
recapitulation of the history of Natural 
Science, and the Ethical and Logical evo- 
lution of English Philosophy. Together 
with Comte and Mill he discards Theology 
and Metaphysics, and, with Darwin, all 
contemplation of Nature. 

He considers all conceptions of mankind 
as the result of human nature and activity; 
he is the founder of the Philosophy of Evo- 
lution. The greatest of all contrasts in 
Religion and Science. The average mind 
affirms the existence of Reality; Objective 
Science shows us that it cannot be created 
as we think it to be. Subjective Science 
shows us why we cannot think it what it 
really is, and why we are still forced to 
believe in its existence. Religion declares 
that Nature's inscrutable Reality is one of 
its objects. Everything undergoes develop- 
ment, the aim being equilibrium. In con- 



132 ABC of Philosophy. 

sequence of the development, i. e., of the 
continued influence of outer forces, the de- 
velopment ceases, when the equilibrium is 
lost. In the "Principles of Psychology" 
Spencer assumes that a spiritual substance 
is the basis of Psychological phenomena. 



A B C of Philosophy. 133 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GERMAN PHILOSOPHERS OF THE 
XIX CENTURY. 

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860). 
His most important works are: 

1. "Ueber die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes 
vom zureichenden Grunde." 

2. "Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung." 

3. "Die beiden Grundprobleme der 
Ethik." 

Schopenhauer teaches: 

(a) Criticism (Kant) is right in assum- 
ing that imagination is of a purely sub- 
jective nature, because all that we see about 
us is merely imagination. 

(b) The subject (the one who imagines) 
contains in himself the world. There is no 
Object without a Subject. The world exists 



134 ABC of Philosophy. 

only for the subject, consequently the world 
is imagination. 

Up to this point he agrees with Kant, 
but the different views discerned by Kant 
have to be founded first, and then traced 
back to one source, and to do this Schopen- 
hauer makes the assertion of the "zurei- 
chenden Grunde" (sufficient basis), which 
he affirms to be the source of all concep- 
tions and from which he derives three dif- 
ferent methods of imagination. Further- 
more, he assumes that the Will is the "Be- 
ing in itself" of all things. All things have 
become objects through the Will, and have 
afterwards become identical with it. The 
world, therefore, is not merely imagination, 
but also Will, and in that respect a reality. 

The starting point for the contemplation 
of all other objects is our own body. This 
is given us not only through Imagination, 
but also through Will. Will power in itself 
is only a conception of Will. 

All Will is striving, all striving suffer- 
ing. Even when the goal has been attained 
it becomes the starting point for new as- 
pirations. Therefore only Suffering is pos- 



AB G of Philosophy. 135 

itive, and this world the worst possible. 
The only means of freeing oneself of pain is 
the abolition of Will; affirmation of the 
Will to live is egoism; absence of egoistic 
motives is the criterion of all moral ac- 
tions. 

Egoism is unlimited; Pity sometimes be- 
comes noblemindedly magnanimous. 

The principle of Morality is: Justice 
and the well-being of others. 

The denial of the Will to live is the high- 
est form of ethical perfection and the 
transition to asceticism. It is only the fear 
of Death that keeps people fighting against 
the evils of the world. 

Life consists of the unfulfilled wishes of 
a self -torturing people. The more intelli- 
gent the individual the greater is his ca- 
pacity for suffering. 

Optimism is a "screaming absurdity." 
Schopenhauer's pessimism has had a great 
influence on the minds of his own and the 
present generation. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844- 
1900), professor of Philosophy 1844-1900. 
He is one of the most remarkable of 



136 ABC of Philosophy. 

modern philosophers. His subtle power 
and his perfect style contributed to shake 
the faith in the existing laws of morality. 
He is an excellent example of Lombroso's 
theory that genius is akin to insanity. His 
broadmindedness overlapped the limits of 
a normal mind, and, partly through over- 
work and the use of narcotic drugs, he be- 
came insane. It is strange to note that it 
was after the symptoms of insanity had ap- 
peared that he wrote his most important 
works. His theory, suggested by Schopen- 
hauer and greatly influenced by his friend- 
ship with Eichard Wagner (which, how- 
ever, did not last long), was that Morality 
is not based on the laws of religious con- 
ventionality or Reason, but chiefly on in- 
stincts which should in all cases be satis- 
fied. Nietzsche's ideal was the "Ueber- 
mensch" (Superman), who desires to ar- 
rive at his aim regardless of the conse- 
quences to others — a man of such extraor- 
dinary capacity and moral strength that 
he overleaps the bounds of "good and evil" 
which he teaches us in his greatest work, 
"Jenseits von Gut und Bose." 



AB C of Philosophy. 137 

Carl Robert Eduard von Hartmann 
(1842-1906). Originally an army man, he 
began in 1864 his remarkable work, "Die 
Philosophie des Unbewusten" which 
made an immense sensation. For the first 
time it was pointed out how much our feel- 
ings, actions, and emotions, when analyzed, 
can be traced to instinct and not to inten- 
tion. Leaning on the positive philosophy of 
Hegel and Schopenhauer, Hartmann tries 
to find a link between the logical and illogi- 
cal ideas and the instinctive Will; and to 
amalgamate the abstract Monisms of specu- 
lative systems with the realistic — Individ- 
ualism into a concrete monism. As a nat 
ural philosopher, he convinces us of the 
basis of exact empiricism through the induc- 
tive method of argument of an existing bond 
between modern natural philosophy and 
meaphysical speculation. 

He was a rather successful opponent of 
Kant in the "Theory of Understanding" 
His ethics are based on Theology (Hegel) 
and on monism (Schopenhauer). His re- 
ligious convictions are a mixture of the 



138 ABC of Philosophy. 

dogmas of Christ and Buddha, while his 
esthetical point of view is basecl on coti- 
crete idealism, in firm opposition to Plato's 
Abstract Idealism. 

His essays on religious and social ques- 
tions, woman's emancipation, spiritualism, 
and educational questions, have aroused a 
great deal of controversy, but his "Die 
Philosophie des Unbewusten" made a fun- 
damental change in some of the most im- 
portant philosophical conceptions. 

He wrote a great many works, of which 
the most important are his "Aesthetik" 
"Kritische Grundlegung des transcendent- 
alen Realisms/' "Die Geisterhypothese des 
Spiritisms und seine Phantome" 



APPENDIX. 



ABCof Philosophy. 141 



APPENDIX. 

The following well-known writers can- 
not directly lay claim to the title of phi- 
losophers, inasmuch as they did not origi- 
nate a system of philosophy, or continue to 
develop the system of one of their predeces- 
sors. They are, rather, scientists, and as 
"Philosophy consists of the same subjects 
as other sciences," so their researches and 
discoveries cannot remain unnoticed in 
the study of philosophy. If philosophy is, 
generally speaking, the sum total of syste- 
matic knowledge, investigating, as it does, 
in a somewhat hypothetical manner, the 
causes of all phenomena, both of mind and 
matter, science is that knowledge of con- 
crete phenomena based on certainties which 
are founded on demonstrated irrevocable 
facts, and excluding all possibilities of 
speculation. 



142 ABC of Philosophy. 

It is, therefore, as impossible to exclude 
these men from a philosophical manual as 
it is to ignore the light and influence that 
Sir Isaac Newton's discoveries have had 
upon the schools of philosophy during and 
after his lifetime. 

The idea of Evolution, apart from its 
purely scientific meaning, is after all an 
ethical one, as it shows the striving of mere 
matter towards self-perfection. 



EVOLUTIONISTS. 

Charles R. Darwin, the Naturalist (1809- 
1882), was the grandson of a physician, 
Erasmus Darwin, who was the author of 
works which maintained a form of Evolu- 
tion which was subsequently expounded 
by Lamarck. The great Charles Darwin em- 
barked as a naturalist on board the "Bea- 
gle" in 1831. After working at South 
American Geology, he returned to England 



AB C of Philosophy. 143 

in 1836. In 1840 he published the "Zo- 
ology of the Voyage of the Beagle" In 1844 
he first gave definite form to his theory of 
"Evolution by Natural Selection.'' His 
greatest work, "The Origin of Species" 
was published in 1859. This work at once 
established him as the greatest naturalist 
of the nineteenth century. He subsequent- 
ly published "Variation of Plants and Ani- 
mals under Domestication" in 1868. This 
was followed by "The Descent of Man" 
1871, and "The Expression of the Emotions 
in Man and Animals" in 1872. He then 
elaborated a paper which he had read be- 
fore the Geological Society in 1838 into a 
book on the "Formation of Vegetable 
Mould through the action of Worms"; it 
was published in 1881. 

In the domain of botany, he wrote the 
"Fertilization of the Orchid," 1862, sup- 
plemented by "Effects of Cross and Self 
Fertilization," 1876. 

Darwin's influence on natural history 
was so great that he has been called the 
Copernicus or the Newton of the organic 
world. In reclaiming Man as part of liv- 



14:4c A B C of Philosophy. 

ing Nature, he put science into closer con- 
tact with natural history, and founded the 
genetic method by which we follow and 
study the evolution of the past and of the 
present to be able to understand the ex- 
isting state of things. 

Darwin, who had the great pleasure of 
watching the progress and finally the com- 
plete triumph of his theories, found many 
enthusiastic admirers and followers, espe- 
cially in Germany. 

Ernst Heinrich Haeclcel was born in 1834. 
A distinguished naturalist, who combines 
the accomplishments of popular exposition 
and successful generalization. Apart from 
zoological work, he has devoted his life to 
the doctrine of Evolution, and to making 
that doctrine popular. Greatly influenced 
by Darwin, he stood at one time almost 
alone in Germany as the champion of the 
evolutionist theory. Darwin, speaking of 
HaeckePs "Natural History of Creation" 
said: "If this work had appeared before 
my essay on the 'Descent of Man 7 had been 
written I should probably never have com- 
pleted it." HaeckePs works are brilliantly 



A B C of Philosophy. 145 

written, and offend many by their remorse- 
less consistency and their impatience with 
theological dogma. He has always strenu- 
ously opposed compromise, and defended 
the freedom of science. As a philosopher 
he may be described as a "Monist," and the 
tendency of his writing is certainly ma- 
terialistic. The thoroughness of his labors 
and his courage, lucidity, and eloquence 
have given him a pre-eminent position 
among Naturalists. 

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895). This 
great English biologist studied medicine in 
London, and accompanied (1846-1850) 
Captain Owen Stanley on an Expedition 
for surveying the Torres Strait. It was 
there that Huxley began Ms zoological 
studies which later on revolutionized the 
scientific world. 

Cuvier's classification of the animal 
world into four parts, viz. : Vertebrata, Mol- 
lusca, Articulata, Kadiata (each corre- 
sponding to an archetype animated by the 
"idea"), still held good, and was accepted 
by von Baer. 

Meanwhile the "Naturphilosopher" (Joe- 



146 ABC of Philosophy. 

the, and Ohen, although not completely 
losing idealistic conceptions, had so far 
grasped the principle of the "co-relation of 
parts," deduced by Cuvier, as to anticipate 
Evolution. 

On this basis Huxley began his investi- 
gations. His first important paper was: 
"On the Anatomy and the Affinities of the 
Family of Medusae" It is strange that 
Huxley would not, in the beginning at 
least, accept the theory of evolution, owing 
no doubt, to his rooted aversion to "a pri- 
ori" reasoning, without mechanical con- 
ception of its mode of operation. 

Neither Spencer nor Darwin were able 
to convert him. 

In 1858 he gave a lecture on "The Theory 
of the Vertebrate Skull," in which he dis- 
posed once and for all both of the Arche- 
type and of the Deductive Method. 

In 1859 appeared Darwin's "The Origin 
of Species" and at last he was partly con- 
verted to the Theory of Evolution, although 
he maintained to the end that it was want- 
ing in proofs. "Man's Place in Nature" 
was published in 1863. 



A B C of Philosophy. 147 

From 1870 onwards Huxley devoted him- 
self practically only to his public duties, 
and to writing for periodicals on philoso- 
phy and theology. The attitude which he 
assumed towards these subjects was gen- 
erally one of scepticism. He died at East- 
bourne in 1895. 



MAY 17 19Q9 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



■IN 
020 199 766 5 



'I 






